Michael Phelps fan with Autism inspires thousands on Facebook

BALTIMORE (AP) - A Michael Phelps fan who has autism has become an inspiration on his own after sharing his dream of competing in the Olympics one day on the swimmer's Facebook page.

Austin Levingston's Aug. 16 post has received more than 3,000 likes. In it, the 21-year-old man, from Great Bend, Kansas, says he's attending college and hopes to be the first person in his family to get a degree. He also tells Phelps, "I'm hoping to swim in the Olympics just like you someday."

(Click on the Facebook post below to see Austin's comment. Can't see the post? Click here.)

{"author_name":"Michael Phelps","author_url":"https://www.facebook.com/michaelphelps/","provider_url":"https://www.facebook.com","provider_name":"Facebook","success":true,"height":null,"html":"&#lt;div id=\"fb-root\"&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;\n&#lt;script&#gt;(function(d, s, id) {\n var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n js.src = \"//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3\";\n fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));&#lt;/script&#gt;&#lt;div class=\"fb-post\" data-href=\"https://www.facebook.com/michaelphelps/photos/a.446945581246.249367.8938856246/10153896818176247/?type=3\" data-width=\"552\"&#gt;&#lt;blockquote cite=\"https://www.facebook.com/michaelphelps/posts/10153896818176247:0\" class=\"fb-xfbml-parse-ignore\"&#gt;&#lt;p&#gt;An honor gracing the cover with these two!! Sports Illustrated #󾓬󾓦 #Rio2016&#lt;/p&#gt;Posted by &#lt;a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/michaelphelps/\"&#gt;Michael Phelps&#lt;/a&#gt; on &#lt;a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/michaelphelps/posts/10153896818176247:0\"&#gt;Tuesday, August 16, 2016&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;","type":"rich","version":"1.0","url":"https://www.facebook.com/michaelphelps/photos/a.446945581246.249367.8938856246/10153896818176247/?type=3","width":552}

Levingston also is a doppelganger for Phelps, who grew up outside Baltimore. Levingston included a few pictures of himself which show a strong resemblance to the 23-time gold medalist.

Levingston tells The Baltimore Sun he doesn't know if Phelps saw his post.

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