First it was news that Kellogg won’t be renewing his cereal sponsorship deal, and now this: The Baltimore Sun reports that USA Swimming voted last night to suspend the swimmer from competition for three months as punishment for the published photo that showed him smoking from a bong. The suspension means Phelps will miss a planned meet in March. USA Swimming said in a statement: "This is not a situation where any anti-doping rule was violated, but we decided to send a strong message to Michael because he disappointed so many people." Phelps management company chimed in saying, "Michael accepts these decisions and understands their point of view….He intends to work hard to regain everyone’s trust."
Feb 6
2009
01:48 PM ET
Michael Phelps suspended by USA Swimming
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My feelings are that he didn’t really want to compete anyway. Hope the Kelloggs thing will penetrate his thick skull. Anyway Michael has everything he deserves: medals, money, fame and now accountability.
Who really cares if he smoked a little ganj? You Americans are so paranoid about weed. The people that hate it so much are the ones that have never smoked it. Give Phelps a break!
For the love of god, the kid took a bong hit at a college party — it’s not as if he was smoking up while competing. Remind me never to become a role model in America, because you have to be 100% perfect 24/7 or you’ll be crucified.
geez people. he made a mistake. isn’t everyone entitled? he made a mistake, he owned up to it, he’s taking his punishment like he should. give him a break. smoking weed isn’t the worst possible thing someone can do. & if the nfl can give michael vick a 2nd chance, surely michael phelps deserves one. he never killed a living soul.
Ok, I have to sound off on this. He was caught smoking marijuana, people!! Who frigging cares? Now if he beat somebody up or was smoking crack cocaine or shooting up herion, I would give you that. But people are making way too much out of this. He is a young man who has worked hard most of his life and earned all of his medals, money, and fame. He has genuinely apologized. Let’s give the guy a break.
Who exactly are you talking to? No one here has reamed him. Even the first comment was mostly positive.
Just like he apologized when he got a DUI. Genuinely. Anyway, I don’t really care. He doesn’t owe me an apology. Kellogs and the swim assoc have a right to do what they did. Ohter cos. have a right to keep him. Whatever. Who cares. Life goes on.
This isn’t the first time he screwed up though. He was busted for a DUI after the 2004 Olympics when he was 19.
WHO THE HELL CARES!! He’s a college student for crying out loud!! If he was doping performance enhancers that would be a different thing, but this is pot people. not that big of a deal.
I’m surprised he hasn’t people to ‘manage’ his image better. There’s been tons of photos of him partying out there, and I would have thought he or his peeps would clue into the notion that it might be bad representation for his multi-million dollar endorsements of kid- friendly sponsors. Perhaps he needs to attend the David Beckham School of Image Control. My mom did always tell me pot makes you stupid.
I’m hoping that there is soon a venue through which the people who take and sell these kinds of pictures are named and exposed for being the scum that they are. I’m sure many would think twice about it if they know their names would be attached to this reprehensible behavior.
Marijuana masks the effects of steriods everyone. It is clear he cheated in the Olympics and now everyone is on to him. You can’t lie and cheat your way through life, you have to work hard to be a Champion. He really Phelps’d things up for himself.
Beth – you must be a Canadian or a Brit. We have laws here, and Phelps was caught breaking one. He’s not in jail, which is fair, but he’s also lost the image most sponsors want in an athlete. So now he pays the price with lost endorsements. It’s called suffering the consequences, dear.
This is stupid, and so is USA swimming. They basically said “He didn’t break any of our rules, but lets make him an example”. I bet 99% of people out there can’t name one other male swimmer. But then they want to punish they guy who has done more for them than probably anyone in history for doing something that wasn’t performance enhancing. Personally, I think its a slippery slope choosing when you want to suspend people for breaking laws. I mean, will they suspend him for a speeding ticket? For a fist fight? For Jay Walking. I’m not trying to disregard what he did, it is stupid to get caught doing that. But how does USA swimming decide what laws are ok to break.
Pot does NOT mask steroids use. People are getting so carried away with this incident. Michael is an amazing athlete and it’s so unfortunate that ignorant people are insisting his accomplishments have been enhanced due to doping. Aside from the fact that marijuana does not mask steroids or other drugs, it could never be used to ENHANCE his swimming abilities (think about it). Give him a break. He spends his life under so much pressure and expectations – a little hit off the bong doesn’t make him a bad person. In a society where we celebrate musical crack heads and amateur porn stars, it’s amazing people are trying to vilify Michael for smoking pot.