Michael Phelps won six gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He also earned two bronze medals, giving him eight medals overall and tying the single-Games medal record previously set by Soviet gymnast Aleksandr Dityatin in 1980.
Phelps' six victories came in the 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley, 400-meter individual medley, 4×200-meter freestyle relay and 4×100-meter medley relay. He finished third in the 200-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.
The six-gold total is sometimes confused with Phelps' performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he won eight gold medals in eight events. In Athens, he had hoped to match Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals from the 1972 Games, but his two bronze medals meant he finished with six golds.
His Athens campaign established Phelps as swimming's next global superstar and began the Olympic run that eventually produced 23 gold medals and 28 medals in total.