Celebrity Mound

Michael Phelps’ estranged father Fred tells the New York Post that he has not had a single conversation with his Olympian son since Michael left for Beijing.

“He’s so busy, I’m sure not even his agent can get a hold of him,” Fred recently told the Post outside his suburban Baltimore home.

Of his eight medals, Fred said, “I’m very proud of him and all he’s done. This is not about me, it’s about him.” He added that he “watched [Michael] every night on TV” last week.

The retired Maryland state trooper has been in and out his son’s life ever since he divorced Michael’s mother Debbie in 1992 when Michael was 9. The same year, the swimmer was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

After the divorce, it was Michael’s mom who drove him to swim practice each day. (Michael has never publicly acknowledged his father as having any role in his success.)

“The bullying and adversity made him be stronger and work harder,” mom Debbie tells Us Weekly exclusively in its new issue, on newsstands now.

On Friday, it was announced that Phelps will detail his life being raised by his single mother in his memoir, Built to Succeed, due in December.

(source)

Michael Phelps’ run at the Olympics — eight gold medals, seven broken world records — is unprecedented, and according to Phelps he couldn’t have done it without Young Jeezy. Phelps typically listened to the Jeezy/R. Kelly collaboration “Go Getta” before hitting the pool, which Jeezy himself doesn’t find surprising. “All my music is inspirational,” he told Rolling Stone’s Evan Serpick. “You just gotta listen to the words and get what you can get out of it.”

Michael Phelps — the man of the hour for the U.S. at the Olympics — is a big fan of Young Jeezy.
I’m a big fan of Michael Phelps! He’s a great success. I like what he’s doing. He’s like the Young Jeezy of the swim world. I love it!

Have you been watching the Olympics?
Off and on, as much as I can on the bus, because I haven’t been anywhere stable. Otherwise, I just pick it up in the newspaper.

He said “Go Getta” is one of his favorite songs. What other Jeezy songs would you recommend to get him psyched up for a race?
Definitely “Soul Survivor,” “And Then What” and “Put On.” But really all my music is inspirational, motivational music. You just gotta listen to the words and get what you can get out of it.

Do you have any plans to meet Phelps?
I reached out and his people got back to me. I’d love to do something for him, maybe like a performance in his hometown. We definitely very proud of it him back over here, real talk. You don’t go over there and win that many medals, man. Maybe he can lend me one for a video or something.

Do you ever go swimming?
No, man. Somebody threw me in a pool once when I was younger and I had to work it out, but other than that, no.

(source)

Michael Phelps has made all the headlines in the pool after going one better than Mark Spitz’s record, now his girlfriend looks just as likely to be thrust into the spotlight.

She previously had to wrest her man from the pool, but now there is a magnitude of gold to wade through before she can get to her man.

Two girls have recently been linked with Beijing’s eight-time gold medalist: US swimmer Amanda Beard and British model Lily Donaldson.

Beard held the Olympic record for women’s 200 metres breaststroke after her win in Athens, but failed to reach the final in Beijing.

She recently posed nude for an anti-fur ad campaign by using the Olympics for maximum exposure. Like US tennis player Ashley Harkleroad, Beard has also posed nude for Playboy.

21-year-old Donaldson is the surprise of the two candidates. She is regarded as one of the top models in the world, while she replaced Kate Moss as one of the faces of Burberry.

However, Phelps, has always played down his private life. Before the 2004 Games, the 23-year-old said: “I haven’t got a girlfriend and I can’t do the kind of things all my friends are doing as college students.

“I swim, listen to hip hop and work on my car. But, in my opinion, that’s still a pretty good life. I don’t know whether I’d want to trade it for anything.”

Now that he has overhauled Spitz he has no reason to trade, although Beard and Donaldson might have differing opinions.

(source)