Washington
11 July 2008
American swimmer Michael Phelps is seeking to navigate unchartedterritory. For his second straight Olympics, the 23-year-old Phelps isaiming to win eight gold medals to surpass the record seven thatfellow-American swimmer Mark Spitz won in 1972. As VOA's Jim Stevensonreports, Phelps is well on his way to completing his lofty ambition.
Phelps has set his best times in all of hisevents since March 2007. At the recent U.S. swimming trials, helowered the world record in the 400-meter individual medley (to 4:05.25minutes). His fans expect to see more records, and Michael Phelps hasno doubt that he can improve on all of his results.
"I do notthink anything is too high. The only way for you to limit yourself isif you put a limit on yourself. The sky is the limit," Phelps said. "And the more you use your imagination, the farther you will go. Ithink anything is possible. I set very high goals for myself. And Iwork as hard as I can to get there."
The talented Phelps beganswimming at the age of seven. Four years later, he started trainingunder his current coach Bob Bowman at his Baltimore, Maryland, swimclub. Bowman has watched and guided Phelps' steady improvement overthe years. He says the past four years have been especially impressive.
"Probablythe two areas where Michael has improved the most are, number one, hisphysical strength," Bowman said. "And that is a result of a much moreintense strength-training program since Athens. And the other areawhere he really has improved the most is his breaststroke. It has gonefrom being a stroke that was quite weak in Athens to being a strengthof his."
Michael Phelps will be one of the busiest athletes inBeijing, as he is scheduled to swim six individual events and possiblythree relays in nine days. Including heats, semifinals and finals, hecould swim as many as 20 races. At the end, Phelps could be standingas the most decorated athlete in Olympic history.