In a recent candid admission, Michael Phelps revealed that sometimes he wished he knew why some people were against him for no fault of his own. The Olympic champion swimmer referred to his teacher, who had claimed that he would never amount to anything.
Michael Phelps had sat down for a podcast with Indian creator Raj Shamani. The Olympic champion swimmer opened up about his childhood, his struggles with ADHD, and why some misunderstood him.
Michael Phelps Reveals His Struggles With ADHD And His Teacher
In the podcast with Raj Shamani, Phelps talked about his childhood struggles with ADHD and why a particular teacher misunderstood it for indiscipline. In his words,
“I don’t think she wanted to deal with me or knew how to deal with me or knew how to handle me or knew how to teach me, right? Like she didn’t, she just didn’t know,” Phelps said (11:40 onwards).
Phelps further referred to his mother, who was a schoolteacher herself, to explain why the particular teacher had an aversion towards him. He added,
“You know, like for me, like my mother has been in education for 50 years, you know, like that’s her passion. Her passion is being in the classroom to try to make an impact for a student, to try to help them take whatever they’re learning in that year or that classroom and catapult it to help them into the rest of their life, to help transform them into what they want to be.”
“And all of those steps need to happen. But when a teacher, you know, instantly shuts down on a kid, it just doesn’t look good for the teacher,” he added.
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Phelps further revealed that he used this teacher’s skepticism as motivation to reach even greater heights.
In 2016, the swimming sensation bid farewell to the pool after winning six Olympic medals at his final appearance in the quadrennial event held in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, the American swimmer, who retired with a stunning 28 Olympic medals to his name, has divided his time between his loving family and his NGO, the Michael Phelps Foundation.
Sports Illustrated recently awarded Phelps with the Muhammad Ali Legacy Award for his efforts to raise awareness of athletes’ mental health. Beyond that, Phelps also takes a keen interest in golf. The former Olympic champion swimmer pursues the sport on a semi-professional basis.
