My home is currently located in Baltimore, Maryland. One very interesting Olympian with special significance to Baltimore, MD is Michael Phelps who is now a retired American swimmer and the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (18, which is double that of the next highest record holders),Olympic gold medals in individual events (11), and Olympic medals in individual events for a male (13). In winning eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, Phelps took the record for the most first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. Five of those victories were in individual events, tying the single Games record. In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold’s and two silver medals, making him the most successful athlete of the Games for the third Olympics in a row. For Michael Phelps, Beijing was about perfection, but London was about history. Phelps had been saying all along that he had goals in London, though he declined to say precisely what they were. Surely, making history was in fact one of them. I am a huge fan of the Olympics and Michael Phelps, who is significant to me because I use Michael Phelps’ journey as motivation for me, knowing and constantly reminding myself that I can accomplish my ultimate goal in life through hard work, determination, and staying focused on the task at hand. If any other students are from my hometown of Baltimore, MD and can relate to using others accomplishments as motivation and confirmation that you can accomplish what others view as impossible, please reply to my post.