The road to success is a long journey made up of obstacles, victories, satisfactions, and disappointments. Achieving success is difficult and by no means guaranteed. This is true for all disciplines, and sport is no exception.
Competitive sport requires total dedication, focus, and discipline. Only by learning to live for the sport is it possible to reach the incredible levels of Michael Phelps.
Recognised as the greatest swimmer by the number of medals won, Michael Phelps showed an early talent for swimming. For this reason, at a certain point, and on the advice of his coach Bob Bowman, Phelps gave up other sports he loved to dedicate himself exclusively to swimming.
The title Phelps chose to tell his story is Beneath the Surface, which means "sotto la superficie” in Italian. This definition could refer both to his ability to be in the water and to the effort to tell his story from a different point of view. Telling one's story requires authenticity, and to do it best, you need to go in depth.
When Phelps started swimming at around 7 years old, he didn't love the water; he detested putting his head underwater. Yet, he learned to manage everything with discipline, quickly revealing himself to be a phenomenon.
By the age of just 14, Phelps had already earned numerous accolades and was already being closely watched by technical commissioners for inclusion in the Olympics. He had achieved records in the 400-metre, 800-metre freestyle, 100-metre, and 200-metre butterfly events, which was a remarkable result for his age. But behind every success lies a lot of hard work, and to discover it, you need to go “beneath the surface”
