Michael Phelps became the first male swimmer to qualify for five Olympics.

A day before his 31st birthday, Michael Phelps made history again on Wednesday night, as he becomes the first male swimmer to qualify for five Olympics.

The most decorated Olympic athlete in history won the 200-meter butterfly at the US swimming trials in Nebraska with a time of 1 minute 54.84 seconds.

He is the current world record holder of the event at 1:51.51. A time he set in 2009 at the world championships.

In his past four Olympic Games he has accumulated a staggering 18 gold medals and 22 in total.

Phelps had previously retired after the 2012 London Olympics but got back into competitive swimming in April 2014.

He was arrested for drink-driving later that year and was banned from competition for 6 months.

Phelps said he felt the achievement was greater because of "the ups and downs we've gone through in and out of the pool to get to this point".

The swimmer is engaged and a new father. His fiancé Nicole Johnson gave birth to their son, Boomer Robert Phelps, on the 5th of May.