Gold Medal Mom: Debbie Phelps

Do Michael's gold medals make you proudest of him, or can you think of another moment that makes you just as proud? It's not the gold medals that are hanging around his neck but it's what he is as a young man. He's very humble, he's very gracious, he just enjoys life and he enjoys what he just showed the world. It's that sparkle in his eye when he was on the podium. He was very emotionally moved during these Olympic games. This is our third one. [Michael] just wanted to soak everything in, what he was experiencing there—and to me, that was monumental for Michael. I had never heard that conversation before—when he was talking [to Bob Costas] about his imagination and imagining what he could become—and that he wanted to become Michael Phelps. He didn't want to become Mark Spitz; he wanted to become Michael.

In the 100-meter butterfly, Michael gave one of the great finishes in any Olympic event ever: With a final heave of his shoulders, he touched the wall before Milorad Cavic by mere milliseconds. What was going through your mind at that moment? I thought, okay, he's gonna have a silver.I found myself looking up at the scoreboard, like I did in 2000, when he made the Olympic team. [I was] looking for a number two beside his name. That was a very close race. There could have been a three beside his name. But see, that shows Michael's mental toughness, actually being able to say [to himself]: "Okay, I'm coming this-close in, and I need to be able to get to the wall first." And he took that extra little short stroke, which put him into the wall before the other guy.