Michael Phelps and his notorious 12000 calorie diet have made a lot of headline these last few weeks. The young athlete has several fried eggs sandwiches with plenty of cheese and vegetables, along with with an omelette full of eggs and a few pancakes. Breakfast is topped off with some french toast.
Phelps follows up this meal with a pasta-heavy lunch, and 2 ham and cheese sandwiches. His dinner also includes a huge portion of pasta, along with an entire pizza.
Michael Phelps also consumes several energy drinks on a daily basis.
The main reason for Phelps major calorie consumption is his strenous daily routine of swimming. Unlike other aerobic sports, swimming utilizes the entire body's locomotion constantly in a pressurised environment. A huge intake of food is necessary in order to maintain muscle mass and a healthy metabolism.
Michael Phelps has now excelled past olympic swimmer Mark Spitz in medal count, after having won his 8th gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games. The swimming events have now come to an end, but Phelps will be staying in China for another week to do promotions for Omega watches and Visa banks. Phelps has become one of the most recognized athletes in the world now, and one of the most esteemed US participant in this years olympics. His 8 gold medals have provided considerable leverage for the US against strong competition like China and Australia.
This Friday Michael Phelps will be competing against an old rival, American Ian Crocker. Crocker is 2 years older than Phelps, and has competed in both of the prior olympic games that Phelps has. So far, Phelps has won in all of the events between the two of them, except for the 100m Butterfly at the 2005 World Championships. If Michael Phelps wants to win his 7th gold medal in 2008, he will most likely have to continue setting new records.
Michael Phelps has set the gold world record as of yesterday, when he took 1st place in the 200 meter relay. He also gained two more gold medals this morning in the 200 meter butterfly and the 800 meter freestyle. His record is now 11 gold medals, most of which have been won in record time. His teammates Ryan Lochte and Aaron Peirsol also have record times in their qualifying relays, the two fastest to date.
The 23-year-old Michael Phelps can become the greatest Olympic champion in history when he races for possibly his fourth and fifth gold medals of the Beijing Games (tenth and eleventh of his career) in the 200m fly and 4x200m free relay.
The all-time record for career golds is nine, which is currently shared by five athletes including Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis and now Phelps after winning swims in his first three events in China. Spitz with seven still holds the record for gold medals won in a single Olympics, though Phelps has a legitimate chance to surpass the 36-year-old mark.
In the women's 200m IM, Katie Hoff and Natalie Coughlin of the U.S. compete against a field that includes Australia’s Stephanie Rice and Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, both of whom recorded sub-Olympic record times in qualifying. The women's 200m free is also contested.
The 23-year-old Michael Phelps can become the greatest Olympic champion in history when he races for possibly his fourth and fifth gold medals of the Beijing Games (tenth and eleventh of his career) in the 200m fly and 4x200m free relay.