Matriarch of 'Team Phelps' Talks to 'GMA'

Debbie Phelps talks about her family's Beijing experience.

ByABC News via logo
February 18, 2009, 3:46 PM

Aug. 20, 2008 — -- Back from Beijing this week, Debbie Phelps, mother of eight-time, 2008 Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps, visited "Good Morning America's" Times Square studio today in New York City. Phelps talked about her son's athletic accomplishments with hosts Robin Roberts and Chris Cuomo.

Phelps said that her son had a plan to win his eight medals and, after doing so, told his mother, "I executed the plan, nearly to perfection."

She described the 23-year old Olympian as a "very humble young man" who, during his first Olympics in Athens, called his sisters from poolside and told them to "meet me at the fence." As he approached them -- a peanut butter sandwich in hand -- he said to his mother, "Mom, look what I did."

Debbie and Fred Phelps divorced when Michael was 9 years old, a short time after he was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Her son took medication for his ADHD, but he eventually stopped. They were able to manage Michael's hyperactivity through discipline and behavioral modifications, Phelps said.

"It took time and patience," said Phelps, who gave her son the support and guidance he needed to succeed.

Phelps drove her son, who first entered the pool at age 7, to swimming lessons twice a day. "I'm not the agent, I'm not the coach," she said of what she calls Team Phelps. "I'm the mom."

"It's a great team we have," she said, adding that her son has taught her mental toughness through the kind of effort he displayed during the 200-meter butterfly race last week in which he set a world record, despite water filling his goggles.

He could have panicked, she told Roberts and Cuomo, but he stayed focused on the task at hand.

Debbie Phelps, who is principal at Windsor Mill Middle School in Baltimore, said that she'll return to school shortly. "My teachers are back in school," she said. "I have to go back soon."

But whether she can return to a normal life may be another question. She was was recently named Johnson's Baby Mom of the Olympics by Johnson & Johnson Co. The company will donate money in her name to a group of global children's charities.