“Champions do the right things every single day,” said one of the most decorated Olympians ever – Michael Phelps, when he held the Larry O’Brien Trophy ahead of the NBA Finals. Starting from Jerry West to Nikola Jokic, several legends fit into the category. However, Phelps couldn’t help but get reminded about the Black Mamba while holding the championship in his hands. Kobe Bryant is a role model to many for various reasons, but let’s see how he inspired Phelps and also made him emotional. 

The 23x Gold Medalist shared, “I have a lot of personal stories with Kobe and honestly every time I think of him, it brings tears. Just because he’s taught me so much… Everything I do every day is a lot of what he’s done and what he’s taught me so, huge influence in my life.” Phelps also took this as a chance to remember the 5x NBA champion,“Kobe is missed every day”,as he lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy to honor him.

The swimming icon also went on to differentiate the great and the good on the topic of Kobe and opined, “The difference between being good and great, is the greats do things when they don’t always want to do them… It’s a lot of small things done right and then you stack them on top of each other to be great.”And who better to be remembered than Kobe whose ‘Mamba Mentality,’ highlighted being obsessed with your craft and pushing through, no matter what.

The ‘Mamba Mentality‘ introduced by Bryant was not just for the game of basketball. Anyone can achieve it, and Phelps did it too. The Los Angeles Lakers legend himself credited Phelps for his vigorous training for the Olympics in 2012, officially adding him to the ‘Mamba Mentality’ list. 

Kobe Bryant tips his hat to Michael Phelps for consuming 8000 calories

Yep, you heard it right. 8000 calories a day. Michael Phelps was probably the only human to look that way despite consuming such a huge amount of calories. That just shows us how hard he trained every single day. In 2012, Bryant tipped his hat to Phelps for the way he trained, during an interview, 

Bryant said, “I think his training schedule is beyond demand. Eating 8000 calories a day in itself is tough, let alone the training he does in the pool and outside of the pool. So, there’s a lot of commitment required“

In the 2012 London Olympics, Phelps won 4 gold medals and 2 silver medals for Team USA. In the same tournament, Kobe Bryant bagged his second gold medal at the age of 34, which was also his final Olympic appearance. So, something that the two share in common is their love for the sport and being the best in it.