Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, joins Mohammed Ali as a 2012 face of Louis Vuitton’s Core Values campaign.

The campaign, shot by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, features Phelps posing Speedo and goggle-clad in the bath with his monogrammed LV resting beside the tub. Another image shows a suited-up Phelps lounging on a couch beside previous record holder Larisa Latynina, the 77-year-old Soviet gymnast who won 14 Olympic medals between 1956 and 1964. The caption beneath the image reads 'Due percorsi straordinari. Uno stesso destino', which translates from Italian as 'Two extraordinary paths. The same fate.'

The now-retired US swimming sensation follows in the footsteps of Angelina Jolie, Bono, Sean Connery, Catherine Deneuve, Francis Ford and Sofia Coppola, Keith Richards, Muhammad Ali and Mikhail Gorbachev to front the campaign.

The images are not official Louis Vuitton promotion shots per se; they are instead part of Leibowitz’s ongoing Core Values campaign which aims to define what travel really means.

The award-winning campaign recognises that travel is more about a journey, not a mere trip or vacation. The idea of the campaign is that travel is a journey and a process of self discovery, a message portrayed through some of the world’s most extraordinary personalities instead of anonymous models.

The Core Values campaign supports Al Gore’s Climate Change project, with Gore saying “This is a good example of how a business can be innovative and successful, and at the same time environmentally responsible' said Al Gore on the project.”

Earlier this summer, Muhammad Ali posed for Leibowitz with his grandson C.J. to front the campaign, with a tagline reading, "Some stars show you the way. Muhammad Ali and a rising star. Phoenix, Arizona."

Three-time heavyweight boxing champion Ali retired from the sport in 1981 but remained an active humanitarian and political campaigner despite being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1984. Yves Carcelle, CEO of Louis Vuitton said,

"Muhammad Ali is the epitome of an outstanding personality - a true living legend in boxing and far beyond…We are honoured that he agreed to be photographed for the Core Values campaign, and delighted with the way this beautiful portrait of the champion and his grandson captures the idea of transmission, which is of great significance to Louis Vuitton."

The ultimate question posed by the Core Values campaign is, does the person create the journey or does the journey create the person?  The journey is life itself, where will it take you?