This is my easiest pick of all of my top 2008 lists. He may have only ranked as #5 on my Top Sports Moments of 2008 but he’s coming in at #1 as my 2008 Man Of Style.

Michael Phelps.

Why I’m Picking his Style

• He’s tall, dark and goofy–just the way I like ‘em:
• His sport is the most girl friendly sport of tall time. You get to see almost every inch of his body! No helmets and shoulder pads or baggy shorts…
• His style: 90% naked at all time. Try to find a picture of him fully clothed! It’s almost impossible!

Personal

• He’s 6’4, 200 pounds of lean, sculpted rock-hard muscle. There is not an ounce of anything else on this man, including icky body hair! He may not be the most classically handsome athlete of all time but his body is sick!
• His wing-span reach is 6’7″–I can’t even put into words how crazy that is. I keep trying, nothing makes sense. But his wingspan is even bigger than his body.
• He’s a 23-year-old Cancer
• He’s from Baltimore, Maryland
• He was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and took up swimming as an outlet of all of his energy
• His nickname is “Gomer” after Gomer Pyle from the Andy Griffith Show (told you he was goofy)
• He went to University of Michigan for sports marketing and management
• Barbara Walters named him one of the Most Fascinating People of 2008.

Lifestyle  & Career

• He’s a swimmer. Duh.
• During training, he eats 10,000 calories a day! Do you know how many brownies that could be!!
• He earns over $5 million in endorsements from Visa, Omega, PowerBar and Speedo (the only time we actually thank God for this invention. He looks damn fine in them!)
• He is part of Project Believe where he allows the World Anti-Doping Agency to test him for drugs more than regulated by the rule books to prove he never uses enhancements.
• His newest book No Limits: The Will to Succeed came out December 9, 2008.
• At age 15, he was already competing in the Summer Olympics and was the youngest American male swimmer in 68 years.
• Five months later he became the youngest man ever to set a swimming world record when he broke the world record in the 200 m butterfly.

Olympic Success

It’s almost impossible to list all of his accomplishments. Not only does he hold the world record for most Olympic gold medals with 14, he keeps breaking his own world records that he already broke once before! (How else would you say that?)

Here’s a small example:

• 2004: won first Olympic Gold Medal
• 2004: Olympics, 8 Medals; 6 Gold, 2 bronze. Broke 3 Olympic Records, 2 World Records and 2 American Records
• 2005: World Championships: 6 Medals; 5 Gold, 1 silver. Broke one Championship Record
• 2007: World Championships: 7 Gold Medals. Broke 5 World Records (some previously set by himself) and one Championship Record.

and then came 2008 and the Olympics where he competed in 8 events that broke down to 17 races in 9 days and he:

• Won 8 Gold Medals in a single Olympics
• Beat the previous record 7 Gold Medals in a single Olympics held by Mark Spitz from the 1972 Olympics
• Broke 7 World Records, the 8th was only an Olympic Record. Missed the World Record by .18 of a second. Gosh he sucks.

“Epic. It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he’s maybe the greatest athlete of all time. He’s the greatest racer who ever walked the planet.” —Mark Spitz (on Phelps winning his 7th gold medal) -Wikipedia

If that wasn’t enough:

• He has broken 32 world records and currently has 7 with his name and time on them.
• In 2008 he was named: SI’s Sportsman of the year, World Swimmer of the Year, American Swimmer of the Year, and the Golden Goggle’s Male Performer of the Year
• And of course, Stiletto Sports’ Man of Style for 2008
• He was also nominated for the World Sportsman of the Year but that tennis guy won for that whole best tennis match ever thing. It’s still tennis!

And that really is just the first lap of his accomplishments. Aw come on, I had to say something like that!

Do you agree with my choice? Who else would you like to see as Man of Style? Let me know!

for more check out my Top Sports Moments of 2008 #5

About the author: Jennifer Taglione is the owner of this fabulous website Stiletto Sports. Despite writing well over 500 posts, she still maintains that she is not a sports writer! She is however a huge fan of Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Mark Sanchez, the Celtics, and totally kicks butt on March Madness brackets! Connect with her by following her on Twitter @StilettoSportsJ and subscribing to her weekly newsletter. For more info check out the About the Editor page!

Now Available!