Meeting Michael Phelps [Reader Photos]

Watching the Olympic opening ceremonies Friday night brought back resident Jackie Carter’s memory of meeting decorated Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps. Carter, who swam for the Bergen Barracudas and Mahwah Marlins throughout her youth, got the chance to meet Phelps at a 2009 charity swim clinic.

“I first started taking notice of him as a swimmer in 2001 and 2002,” Carter, who is now 18, said. “During the 2004 Olympics, I fell in love with him, and in 2008 I watched every single event he swam in. I cried when he won that eighth medal.”

After Phelps returned home from Beijing, he ran several charity clinics to benefit The Michael Phelps Foundation, which promotes swimming and active, healthy lifestyles for children.

Carter received the chance to go to an October 2009 clinic as a Christmas present from her mom. “I was so completely excited when I saw the gift, I was jumping and screaming and crying,” she said. Carter and her family raised money for the charity, and she even donated half of the money she got as presents at her Sweet 16 birthday party that year.

Phelps ran the clinic at the Long Island Aquatic Center where he swam with participants, gave them pointers on their strokes, took pictures and signed memorabilia for them.

“He was great to us, and he talked to me for a long time,” Carter said. “It is literally something I will never forget, and one of the best experiences of my life.”

Now that Jackie Carter is 18, and a recent grad preparing to attend Sacred Heart University this fall – where she is planning on swimming on the club swim team – she is more excited than ever to watch her idol compete in the Olympic games once again.

“I am rooting for Michael Phelps all the way,” she said. “I am sad that this is his last Olympics, but I know that he’ll still gives the games his all. I am proud of him.”

Have you ever met an Olympian? Share your story in the comments below.

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