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Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Michael Phelps stops by
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Photos by Jason Getz.
It’s good to be Michael Phelps.
Since winning a history-making eight gold medals during the Beijing Games, the Olympic swimmer has been awarded a $1 million bonus from Speedo, which he used to start a charitable foundation. He’s graced the cover of “Sports Illustrated” and hosted “Saturday Night Live.”
But here’s the really good part.
Remember how Phelps said Lil’ Wayne kept him company on his iPod until the moments before a race? The hip-hop artist repaid the shout-out with a signed iPod loaded with 40 unreleased tracks.
One of them is titled “Michael Phelps.”
“It’s all about me,” Phelps said during a visit to the Warren/Holyfield Boys and Girls Club in Atlanta Wednesday afternoon. “I was pretty pumped when I got it.”
Phelps dropped by the Boys and Girls Club as part of a nationwide tour to talk to kids about setting goals and maintaining active, healthy lifestyles. At 3 p.m., sporting a new beard and dressed casually in jeans, sweater and ballcap, he unfolded his lanky frame from a black SUV with tinted windows, sent one more text message, then greeted his young fans.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Tatiana Avery, 9, said, waving her hand in the air like it was on fire after shaking Phelps’ huge mitt.
Inside, Phelps sat with Kailyn Jackson, 8, for a few minutes as she worked on sentence structure, and helped Horace Wyatt, 8, with his math homework.
“He’s got it under control,” Phelps said. “He doesn’t need my help.”
U.S. Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps and Yasmine Harris, 10, look over her homework.
He spoke to groups of kids in the gym and pool areas, posed for tons of pictures and held his own as teen journalist Ayana Wade fired questions at him:
Must-have gadget? Cell phone. Worst habit? Sleeping through the alarm. Biggest influence? Michael Jordan. One thing people don’t know about him? He hates pickles. “These are funny,” he said of Wade’s questions.
Ayana Wade gets the goods.
He talked for a few minutes to some grown-up journalists, too. It’s been an adjustment, getting mobbed by fans every time he’s in public, but he’s getting used to it. He was more nervous before his turn as SNL host than before his Olympic competitions. And he’d taken a hiatus from working out until jumping in the pool Tuesday to swim a couple of miles, after which he was “in a lot of pain.”
The best swimmer in Olympic historyshares some tips
Moving forward Phelps wants to promote his sport so that swimming isn’t seen as just an Olympics event. And in 10 years, he says he’ll be retired and playing golf full time. But for now, he says he’s enjoying the post-Beijing blitz and looking forward to London — and seems never to tire of talking about his triumphs in China.
“It’s one of the coolest things, representing your country, wearing the stars and stripes, hearing the national anthem play,” he said. “It’s been an amazing accomplishment, something that hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
Phelps signed some autographs before he had to go
