Swimming · 2004 · Athens, Greece
Phelps Announces Himself
A 19-year-old Michael Phelps takes six golds and two bronzes at his second Olympics, and the run at Mark Spitz's record starts here.
8 (6 gold, 2 bronze)
Medals, Athens 2004
19
Age
5
World records set
Michael Phelps had swum at the 2000 Sydney Olympics as a 15-year-old without reaching a final. He arrived in Athens four years later as the most talked-about young swimmer in the sport, already being measured against Mark Spitz's seven-gold haul from 1972 before he had raced.
He did not match Spitz. He won six golds, the 400m individual medley, the 200m butterfly, the 200m individual medley, the 100m butterfly and two relays, along with two bronze medals in events where teammates out-swam him. Eight medals from eight events, at 19, at his first full Games.
Four years later in Beijing he won eight golds at a single Games and finished his career as the most decorated Olympian in history. Athens 2004 is where that trajectory stopped being a projection.
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