In the biggest race of his young life, a 15-year-old Michael Phelps turned for the last 50 meters in fourth place of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials 200m butterfly final on Aug. 12, 2000.
His mom, Debbie, couldn’t watch. She turned away from the Indiana Natatorium pool and stared at the scoreboard. Both Debbie and Phelps’ coach, Bob Bowman, mentally prepared their consolation speeches for the rising Towson High School sophomore outside Baltimore.
Then Phelps, fueled by nightly Adam’s Mark chicken sandwich-and-cheesecake room service and amped by DMX on his CD player, turned it on.