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Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American swimmer who holds world records in multiple events. Phelps won eight medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Six of those were gold. These medals made him tie the record for medals at a single Olympics. Alexander Dityatin has held this record since 1980.[5] In 2008, Phelps won eight swimming gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. This broke Mark Spitz's record for most gold medals in a single Olympics.[6] Spitz had won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won another four gold and two silver medals. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Phelps won five gold medals and one silver.
In total he has won 28 Olympic medals, a record. 23 of these are gold medals, over two times as many as the former record. Phelps is also known as the most decorated olympian in any sport. Currently, Michael Phelps has retired. He did not swim in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Phelps was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when he was nine.[7]