Outliers

Michael Phelps

 

My outlier is Michael Phelps. He is an amazing Olympic swimmer and is also the world record holder for the most Olympic medals (22) and the most gold medals ever won in a single Olympics. Born on June 30, 1985, in Baltimore, Maryland, Michael Phelps competed in his first Olympics at the age of 15, as part of the U.S. men's swim team, but there was much more that affected how he got there.   Phelps began swimming when his two older sisters, Whitney (born in 1978) and Hilary (born in 1980), joined a local swim team. Kind of like I used to be he was still scared to put his head underwater by the time he was seven.  Bob Bowman, his coach, immediately recognized Phelps's talents and fierce sense of competition and began an intense training regime together.  This, like those people in the hockey league put him ahead of everyone else because of little lead he had which developed into a bigger lead.  

In peak training phases, Phelps swims minimum 80,000 meters a week, which is nearly 50 miles. He practices twice a day, sometimes more if he’s training at altitude. Phelps trains for around five to six hours a day at six days a week. This comes out to be much more than 10,000 hours of practice with the number of years he has been practicing.  I could not find this information in any biographies or interviews of Michael Phelps, but I think that based on how much his mother wants him to go to Rio for the next Olympics that she and his sisters supported him a lot in his career.

Another reason why Michael Phelps is so successful is because he is undoubtedly built for swimming.  A good percent of his success is not only the things that Malcolm Gladwell talked about, but also luck.  For example: his size is 6ft 4in, 6ft 7in arm reach, broad shoulders, and large chest make him extremely difficult to beat. He also has relatively short legs for his height, which give him more power in the water. His knees are double-jointed and his feet can rotate 15 degrees more than possible for the average person. This allows him to straighten fully so that his powerful feet act like flippers. He truly is the "human dolphin."

Sources:

http://www.squidoo.com/michael-phelps-workout-diet-how-the-king-of-swimming-does-it

http://www.biography.com/people/michael-phelps-345192?page=1#synopsis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Phelps#Personal_life