The United States has a rich history of athletes who have enjoyed success at a global level. While the national basketball team has had immense victories in international events, there is no other Olympian more decorated than swimmer Michael Phelps. For Phelps, Michael Jordan was his idol growing up.

Michael Phelps is the most successful Olympian in history with 28 medals to his name. Phelps has competed in five different Olympic games from 2000 to 2016. His tally of 23 gold medals is also a world record. 

As ‘The Last Dance’  concluded, Michael Phelps revealed that he idolized MJ in his childhood. He watched the docuseries, which takes its fans a trip down the memory lane. While Jordan and Phelps have a lot in common in terms of success, Phelps attributes some of his qualities to that of the former Chicago Bulls star.

In a recent chat with Yahoo Sports, the retired Olympian was all about praising the Jumpman. “For me, MJ was everything growing up,” Phelps said. “That was the guy I wanted to be. I wanted to do in swimming what he did in the sport of basketball. In my opinion, he completely changed and grew the sport of basketball to an unbelievable place and heights. That’s really what I kind of replicated my career off of.”

Michael Phelps draws the similarities between him and Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan’s attitude on the court never really went down well with his teammates. MJ shared his desire to win with his teammates, but he could never express his thoughts well. The six-time champion even teared up when talking about it in the docuseries. 

But Michael Phelps credits MJ for his attitude. While watching ‘The Last Dance,’ Phelps could see the similarities between him and MJ in the way the latter brought out his motivation. “I guess to put it quite blunt, everyone’s saying he was an a**h**e, but I would say the same thing about myself,” he said.

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“I was an a**h**e when I was training because I wanted to help everybody make sure they had the same exact chance that I had. We’re all in there working together as a team. Even though it’s an individual sport, we want the best for each other. I’m going to challenge them. And I’m going to make sure that they’re getting stresses in practice that they’re going to face in a meet.”

From this, it is evident that the best players across all sports share a similar mindset. Their goal is to become the best in the world, and they do anything to achieve it. If their teammates have to get better, they will push them in any possible way.