The most decorated Olympian of all time had to start somewhere.
In a video that surfaced on YouTube earlier this week, a 15-year-old Michael Phelps spoke with a journalist about his young career and life as a teenage swimming phenom.
"I don't really live a normal life as a teenager," he said. "I guess I give up a lot of things but, I mean, I'm getting tons of other things that normal 15-year-olds aren't getting."
Four years later, Phelps would win his first Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He eventually went on to score 17 more.