To achieve excellent results in sports is a huge work, and, probably, not only athletes know this, but also people who are neutral in the sports field. It is about personalities of the 21st century that went down in history as the best swimmers in the world, which will be discussed in this article.
Who was on the list of the "most-most"?
Who are they, the best swimmers in the world? The list of the most agile and fastest people in this sports industry is opened by Michael Phelps, a man who became a legend due to special merits in his “water arena”.
A swimmer, a native of Baltimore, was born 31 years ago. He had a typical family: mother - a teacher, father - a policeman and two sisters, who, like him, attended swimming classes. Sadly, the parents broke up when his son was only 9 years old, because of disagreements.
Michael during his career has developed a simple pair of nicknames: “Baltimore bullet” and “Flying fish”. Why was he called that?
In his fifteen years, this guy has already managed to set his first world record, playing for the national team at the Olympic Games, despite the fact that he came to the finish of the 5th. Then a new world record, set a year after the first age. By the way, Phelps nine times became the youngest record holder.
The guy’s career began to fly uphill: twenty-three times he was the champion of the Olympic Games, got about thirty-seven world records. In all, Michael collected seventy-seven medals, and most of them are gold.
Michael Phelps is the most titled and best swimmer in the world in the history of this sport. Perhaps the guy’s physique made him so privileged (Michael is known to have a long torso, huge arms, big feet and shortened legs).
Whatever the case, perhaps, the good news for the athlete was that for his services in his hometown they named the street in his honor.
Personal life
The best swimmer in the world has been married for several years to Nicole Johnson. A woman is trying to get him married. And all in vain. The guy is not going to leave the sport and begin to take his common-law wife more seriously. Despite this situation, Nicole and Michael managed to get the first child, who strengthened their relationship and gave hope to the girl that their relationship would still be legalized, and she would become Michael's lawful wife.
Forever second
Top of the best swimmers in the world continues Ryan Lochte - a man who is in an eternal struggle with Michael Phelps. For years, headlines have been dazzling in the news that one of the rivals has overtaken the other in a particular competition.
The guys have an age difference of only a year, and they started a career at about the same time. However, 2010 was marked by the change of the main swimmer to Ryan, who since 2004 tried to break the records of the first on the list and unsuccessfully, before six years ago he won seven gold medals and the Cup of the best swimmer of the year. After this, Ryan’s business went up, and he began to win positions with an opponent.
Today bright headlines are written about him about wins, about a gold medal given to an ordinary girl just like a gesture of good. Later, the athlete began to publicly donate his medals to children, and again to continue the rivalry with the main leader Michael Phelps.
Through the thorns to the stars
Our list of "The Best Swimmers in the World" is continued by Ian James Thorpe, born October 13, 1982 in Sydney, Australia. As in the first case, the athlete’s mother and father held the usual posts: a teacher and a gardener, as well as Ian has a sister who brought him to swimming at the age of eight, although his father wanted the guy to do cricket, but he didn’t succeed.
When barriers temper
For about twelve months, Jan swam with a clip on his nose, because the boy was allergic to chlorine. But soon he became ill, and his health returned to normal. Yang won his first gold medal that same year.
At the age of fourteen, when many young people still do not know what they want from life, and become numb at the question “Who do you want to be?”, The swimmer has already participated from Australia in the competitions in Fukuoko (Japan) with the national team. What struck me was that Ian surprised everyone, and even himself, by participating there. He broke his record for 6 seconds in a 400 meter swim.
Until the age of fifteen, a swimmer trains at the Radstow club, where he becomes the best among team members and improves the quality of his skills.
In May 1998, Jan again breaks records at the World Championships and wins gold at 400 meters, competing immediately with Klim Michael, Kowalski Daniel and Hackett Grent, as the youngest winner. As a result, his name was engraved on the plaque of the Champions Path (Water Center).
Exemplar
In the same year there was a special competition in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). It was special because it was attended by Michael Williams, a little boy with cancer. He liked the swimmer, and he felt a sense of admiration and respect at the sight of Ian. Perhaps it was for the sake of a little boy that the guy tried and took 4 gold medals at once.
All this happened when Ian was 16 years old. A swimmer becomes a hero for his country and an example for many citizens.
In the 10th grade, Thorpe was forced to only partially attend school. He was preparing for the 2000 Olympics in his native Australian city, Sydney. And Jan was skipping school clearly not in vain. The Olympics of the new century brought him 3 gold and 2 silver medals.
The guy’s popularity grew with every win, every victory. Well-known global brand companies such as Coca-Cola, Adidas began to offer him contracts, the amount of which is fabulous.
Yang, as a kind and ambitious young man, sent the bulk of the amount that he received from victories to poor or physically unhealthy children.
If you look at the whole career of a guy, then in total about thirteen highest world awards will come out, which can be obtained, not counting small competitions.
All the following years, Yang received more and more awards, beat new records, and surprised the whole world, and himself, with his hard work, kindness, and diligence.
An extinct Olympic flame forever
Speaking about who are the best swimmers in the world, one cannot help but recall our compatriots. Russian 4-time Olympic champion, 6-time winner of the World Championships and champion of the 21st Euro tournament - swimmer Alexander Popov.
Being a pupil of the forge of sports talents “Fakel” (Sverdlovsk), he received higher education at the Volgograd University of Physical Education.
He was awarded the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, degree III, as well as the Order of Friendship and the title of Honored Master of Sports of the Soviet Union for his excessive contribution to the development of sports and the worthy presentation of his native flag at various competitions.
Mentality victim
In 1996, a tragic situation occurred that put an end to the swimmer's career. On one of the warm evenings of August, he and his friend Leonid decided to spend two acquaintances. During the voyage, passing by the stall, they heard angry words in the direction of the girls who enraged the guys. Having stood up for the ladies, they received very serious injuries. Leonid’s head was broken, and Alexander’s stab wound with a knife and a stone punch in the back of the head. As it turned out later, the knife hit the kidney and lung, but the athlete’s trained body managed to cope, and he quickly got better.
After some time, the former Olympic champion resumed training, but he could not achieve the previous results.
Instead of an afterword
Summing up, we can say that the famous and best swimmers of the world, which were described in this article, are real examples for future generations. In their years, they did incredible things, broke world records and did not stop at anything. Their determination, intellect and hard work can only be envied and strive for their model, try to become more perfect, and never retreat from their goal!