Michael Phelps is putting on another dominating performance in the Rio Olympics.
Shattering record after record, Phelps has now amassed 23 gold medals in this year’s games. It’s a staggering number as the athlete-elite even bests a boatload of countries in the medal tally.
According to Nicole Auerbach’s recent article for USA Today Sports, Phelps is taking inspiration from another generational athlete in his namesake, Michael Jordan.
Article Continues Below“Michael Jordan has been an inspiration to me throughout my whole career. What he did to the sport of basketball is what I’ve always wanted to do in the sport of swimming. No. 23 is a special number, and will always be a special number. It always has been, and now it is even more special.”
Michael Phelps and Michael Jordan are two rare sportsmen that belongs to an elite group of people who excelled in their sport like no other. For perspective, one more individual who belongs to that tier is the late Muhammad Ali.
However, Michael Phelps will no longer be participating in the 2020 Olympics as he has already announced that he will be retiring after the Rio games.