This is my first blog post, and in it I will talk about a famous person with a psychological disorder who manages to overcome it and become a legend. His name is... Michael Phelps.
Of course, you all probably know who Michael Phelps is, but here's a quick review. Michael is one of the greatest swimming champions of all time. He recently won a record 8 gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He also won 6 gold medals in the Athens Olympic Games, which means he holds the most gold medals ever won by an Olympic athlete in his or her career.
Of course, the "Baltimore Bullet" was not always so successful in life.
Phelps was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) when he was a young boy. This condition caused young Phelps to become very hyper. He used a lot of this energy in a multitude of sports , such as baseball, and of course, swimming. These sports also served as refuges for Phelps, who was often made fun of because of his excessive energy and large ears. Phelps soon proved very good at swimming, and his career took off.
Attention-Deficit Hyperacticity Disorder is obviously a serious disorder, but as Michael Phelps learned, it can be overcome. While ADHD's symptoms include impulsiveness and inattention, Phelps was obviously able to overcome both inattention (he has concentrated on training and preparing for swimming competitions for more than 10 years) and impulsiveness (he certainly didn't decide overnight to compete in 8 of the most difficult races in the world!).
7 comments:
Very interesting! Your article proves that disorders may not stop you from being successful and may even "enhance" your abilities.
You picked a very significant sports icon to talk about in your article and I applaud you and your article
Great job Michael.
Great person to do your blog on :) Good job!
Thats a really cool story! i was watching snl one night when they interviewed phelps and he talked about how he would use swimming to overcome his adhd. It was really inspiring to know that he could awe the world while all this time he has a disorder. Good job!
I think that it's great that Michael Phelps was so determined and was able to overcome this disorder.
Good job and btw I didnt know that Phelps played baseball :)
I had no idea he had ADHD. He's proof that it can be a good thing to have ADHD since he was able to make that extra energy useful. Good job!
WOW that's crazy. Never thought such a successful athlete like him had any type of disorder. You would think that he would be just about perfect mentally. ADHD would only cause him hardships while swimming, but i guess he learned how to over come it. Great article/blog.
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