I always thought, it would be neat to make the Olympic team.

[Phelps] firmly denies that he takes drugs, suggesting that the notorious photo of him smoking from a bong was a one-time lapse of judgment.

Eat, sleep and swim, that's all I can do.

My goal is one Olympic gold medal. Not many people in this world can say, 'I'm an Olympic gold medalist.'

I think with practice, you can being whatever you want to be, and with a goal you can go in any direction that you want to go in.

I don't want to be the next Mark Spitz; I want to be the first Michael Phelps

I grew up around the pool with my sisters. Both of my sisters swam. I was always there. So I thought, why not? My mom put us in the water for water safety, so we were comfortable in the water in case anything ever happened. I learned that way, and started liking it more and more.