How Did Michael Phelps Meet Wife Nicole Johnson?

Love stories have an adorable aura that people cannot get enough of. It becomes even more endearing when it revolves around a celebrity. In the world of sports, too, certain athletes have got their rights reserved at the celebrity status. One of the athletes that comes to mind when thinking of celebrities is undoubtedly Michael Phelps; and he has quite the love story to share.

How did Michael Phelps meet Nicole?

Phelps first met Nicole Johnson at the 2007 ESPY Award. He was to present an award alongside race car driver Danica Patrick. Johnson was an athlete guide at the event. She was assigned to the swimmer at the ceremony. However, she wanted to become an F1 racing correspondent back then and was not very thrilled at having to guide Phelps at the event.

In an interview, she admitted it as a fact. She said, “I really wanted to escort Travis Pastrana.”

Things would change soon as they found out they had a lot in common. Nicole later admitted, “Michael and I just completely hit it off.”

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They started dating soon after and became the talk of the town immediately. However, Johnson skipped out on the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics as she felt attending the meet may distract Phelps from keeping his priorities straight.

Michael won eight medals at the meet, surpassing Mark Spitz’s record of most medals at a single Olympic meet. What ensued after was chaos itself as Phelps became an overnight sensation following his victorious performance at the Games.

Not much is known about the couple following the years after the Olympics. But fame got to young Phelps, and they started to drift apart after a while. They got back together briefly in 2012 before breaking up again before the London Olympics.

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Initial engagement led to marriage

The couple dated on and off for some years before cementing their relationship through an engagement in 2015. They had plans for a wedding post the Rio Olympics but had to prepone in a bid to ease traveling facilities for their then newborn son, Boomer.

They tied the knot at a small ceremony comprising friends and family on June 13th, 2016, in Paradise Valley. Following his memorable performance at the Rio Olympics, the couple held a grand second ceremony in Cabo on October 29th.

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It was not the smoothest ride for the couple during their initial days. However, they have been able to look past their differences and stood by each other in trying times, making for a happy couple today.