Ledecky's success has earned her Swimming World's World Swimmer of the Year in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Ledecky was also named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 2017, international female Champion of Champions by L'Équipe in 2014 and 2017, United States Olympic Committee Female Athlete of the Year in 2013, 2016 and 2017, and Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation in 2017.^[2]Ledecky's 10 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships and 14 combined individual titles at the Olympics and World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming.

2015-16:
Led the team with her fastest time of 51.31 in the 100 meter freestyle at the Northwestern TYR Invitational ... Clocked in her best time of 27.47 in the 50 meter backstroke at the Northwestern TYR Invitational ... Led the team with her fastest time of 23.37 in the 50 meter freestyle at the Northwestern TYR Invitational ... Placed second in the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 23.66 against OSU ... Earned first place in the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 24.14 against Toledo.

"If you want to be the best, you have to do things other people aren't willing to do."

Phelps is the long course world record holder in the 100 meter butterfly, 200 meter butterfly, and 400 meter individual medley as well as the former long course world record holder in the 200 meter freestyle and 200 meter individual medley. He has won 82 medals in major international long course competition, of which 65 were gold, 14 silver, and 3 bronze, spanning the Olympics, the World Championships, and the Pan Pacific Championships. Phelps's international titles and record-breaking performances have earned him the World Swimmer of the Year Award eight times and American Swimmer of the Year Award eleven times, as well as the FINA Swimmer of the Year Award in 2012 and 2016. Phelps earned Sports Illustratedmagazine's Sportsman of the Year award due to his unprecedented Olympic success in the 2008 Games .

After the 2008 Summer Olympics, Phelps started the Michael Phelps Foundation, which focuses on growing the sport of swimming and promoting healthier lifestyles. Phelps retired following the 2012 Olympics, but he made a comeback in April 2014.^[12] At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,^[13] his fifth Olympics, he was selected by his team to be the flag bearer of the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations. He announced his second retirement on August 12, 2016.^[14]