By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
It has been nearly a decade since Michael Phelps last put on a pair of goggles and suited up for Team USA in the pool–that was the side of the most decorated Olympian of all-time that we grew accustomed to seeing.
But in a November 2015 edition of Sports Illustrated, the world got a glimpse of the GOAT in a different light, one that highlighted his mental health. From there, Phelps has become a relentless advocate for mental health, and his efforts in and around the mental health space have helped earn him Sports Illustrated’s Muhammad Ali Legacy Award for 2025.
The award is given each year to an athlete, current or retired, who best embodies the ideals of sportsmanship, leadership, and philanthropy as vehicles for changing the world.
Full List of Past Recipients:
The award was first given out in 2008, then not again until 2014
2024: Dikembe Mutombo 2022: Allyson Felix 2021: Billie Jean King 2020: LeBron James 2019: Warrick Dunn 2018: John Cena 2017: Colin Kaepernick 2016: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell 2015: Jack Nicklaus 2014: Magic Johnson 2008: Eunice ShriverThat 2015 SI article came a year after Phelps made headlines after being pulled over after driving recklessly and wound up being impaired and charged with a DUI, speeding, and crossing double lane lines. He later entered a treatment facility and returned to the water in the spring of 2015.
According to a Sports Illustrated feature on the award by Tim Layden, the same man who wrote the 2015 piece on the now 28-time Olympic medalist, following the release of that story, there was a sense of relief. “I felt, I don’t know, lighter,” Phelps had said.
Phelps went on to be the flag bearer in 2016 for Team USA at the Olympic Games in Rio. He then added to his legendary total with five more Olympic gold medals and one silver.
Phelps’ longtime coach, Bob Bowman, even commented on his pupil’s journey, saying how he “can see how gratifying it is to him.”
“Especially since swimming is over. He gets going on this, and he seems to really care,” Bowman said. “I think it’s so important to him because he realizes how it relates to his own life. And I think the more he does it, the better he feels about it, and the more he wants to do.”
One of Phelps’s closest friends and fellow Olympian Allison Schmitt echoed similar sentiments in the report from Sports Illustrated.
“I think what he realized, at some point, was … he went through all these years, hurting, and just putting his head down and never being heard. But now he understands, and he hears people that are screaming but don’t necessarily know how to say the words I need help.”
Phelps will be honored with the award as a part of Sports Illustrated’s 2025 Sportsperson of the Year Celebration on January 6th in Las Vegas.
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