Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps announced yesterday that he had plans to write a book about the story behind the eight gold medal swims he won.

Scheduled to hit the bookshelves at the end of the year, in December, “Built to Succeed” will be published by Free Press, an American publisher and imprint of Simon & Schuster. In the book, Phelps will also talk about his personal life, touching on how he was brought up by a single mother and how he tackled with an attention-deficit disorder.

In the new edition of celebrity magazine Us Weekly, mother Debbie talks about her son’s upbringing. "The bullying and adversity made him be stronger and work harder," she said. "Michael may not have been able to focus in school, but I saw a passion for swimming at such a young age," Debbie added. "He could be at a swim meet or practice for hours. It was a great outlet."

At the 2008 Olympic Games, Phelps became the record-holder for most gold medals won at a single Olympics. With this amazing performance, he surpassed Mark Spitz, the winner of seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Overall, Phelps holds a grand total of sixteen Olympic medals: six gold and two bronze at Athens 4 years ago and eight gold at Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.

“Built to Succeed” is not Phelps’s first autobiography. The swimmer has co-written “Michael Phelps: Beneath the Surface” with Sports Illustrated writer-reporter Brian Cazeneuve. The book was published in 2005 and this week, it will be re-released in paperback with an update on the Olympic winner’s triumph.