Olympic swimming medalist Michael Phelps attended and swam for what college?

Olympic swimming medalist Michael Phelps attended and trained with the University of Michigan. After the 2004 Olympics, his longtime coach Bob Bowman became Michigan’s head coach, and Phelps moved to Ann Arbor with him. Phelps attended classes there for roughly four years while continuing his elite swimming career.

Phelps studied sports marketing and management, but he did not complete a degree. He also trained with Club Wolverine, a swimming organization associated with Michigan, and later served as a volunteer assistant coach. Because he had a professional endorsement arrangement, he did not compete for Michigan in official NCAA meets under the rules then in effect. That detail sometimes causes confusion about the wording of this trivia question.

Michigan nevertheless became an important base during a remarkable period of Phelps’s career. He won six medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics and eight medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, including a record eight golds in Beijing. Bowman and Phelps eventually left Michigan for Arizona State in 2015, where Bowman became head coach.