USA Swimming suspends Michael Phelps for 3 months

So new thoguhts, I heard on the news about Michael getting caught smoking weed, oh dear god the horror! Whatever. He is 23, and has the entire world looking at him, I don't blame him for a little bit of partying. Sometimes you just need to relax you know? However, if I where Michael I would of busted up the camera and likely that dudes face, and maybe looked around to make sure no one else took a picture. Than again maybe busting up his face would of been a bad idea too? Just the camera, no law suits that way. But I wonder, maybe Michael was to stoned to notice? My guess he is has done it before, likely a few times and just got caught this time. If I where a Olympic Athlete, I don't think I'd drink or anything if I wanted my body to stay in shape, but who knows? Maybe I would crack down and get stoned. He was doing it in between any meets, in down time where he was just trying to relax. The dude is 23 years old, who can blame him? Surely not the some 50% of the population who has admitted to smoking weed at one point in there lives. Likely the people so hard on him with this are the same people I tend not to get along with in many things. Anyways, story below.

Michael Phelps' return to competition for the first time since the Beijing Olympics is on hold. The swimming superstar has been suspended for three months and had his training stipend revoked by USA Swimming.
It's the latest complication for the 23-year-old Olympic great since a photo surfaced showing him inhaling from a marijuana pipe.
He also lost a high-profile sponsor Thursday when Kellogg Co. said it wouldn't renew its deal with Phelps that expires later this month.
Phelps recently resumed serious training in his hometown of Baltimore with the goal of qualifying for this summer's world championships in Rome. But the suspension will cut into his racing schedule.
"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, particularly the hundreds of thousands of USA Swimming member kids who look up to him as a role model and a hero," the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based national governing body said in a statement

"Michael has voluntarily accepted this reprimand and has committed to earn back our trust."
Phelps won a record eight gold medals in Beijing and returned to America as one of the world's most acclaimed athletes. He made headlines of a different kind, however, in the wake of the photo, published Sunday by News of the World, a British tabloid.
The latest fallout has been much greater than in 2004, when an underage Phelps was arrested for drunken driving three months after the Athens Olympics. He pleaded guilty and apologized to his fans, saying he wouldn't make the same mistake again.
"Michael's been through a lot and he's learned a lot, hopefully," his coach Bob Bowman told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I support him and I want to see him do better. I'm here, as always, to try to help him move forward. He's learned some tough lessons and he's disappointed a lot of people, me included."
USA Swimming provides a $1,750 monthly stipend to national team members to help defray travel and training expenses, plus performance bonuses. However, it's a fraction of the millions Phelps makes through endorsements. The stipend will be withheld throughout his three-month suspension.
Cereal and snack maker Kellogg Co. said it wouldn't renew its sponsorship contract with Phelps, saying his behavior is "not consistent with the image of Kellogg." The swimmer appeared on the company's cereal boxes after his Olympic triumph.
"Michael accepts these decisions and understands their point of view," said one of his agents, Drew Johnson. "He feels bad he let anyone down. He's also encouraged by the thousands of comments he's received from his fans and the support from his many sponsors. He intends to work hard to regain everyone's trust."
Phelps has acknowledged "regrettable" behavior and "bad judgment" in the latest incident. He didn't dispute the authenticity of the photo, reportedly taken at a house party while Phelps was visiting Columbia, S.C., in November during an extended break from training.
"I certainly understand USA Swimming needed to take action," Bowman said. "We will certainly abide by everything they've put down."
Phelps had planned to compete in early March at a Grand Prix meet in Austin, Texas.
Now, he won't be able to take on any rivals until early May, which would give him a little more than two months of competition before July's world championships in Rome.
"This is the result of a poor decision Michael made," U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said in an e-mail. "He understands there is accountability and has pledged to not repeat this in the future. We have offered our assistance to make certain he is as consistent and successful away from the pool as he is in it, and we are confident that will happen."
After the suspension, Phelps would be able to compete at a May meet in Charlotte, N.C.; there's another Grand Prix competition in Santa Clara, Calif., the following month. The U.S. team for Rome will be chosen at the national championships July 7-11 in Indianapolis.
"He's been very good in practice," Bowman said. "I think he feels good to be back in the water. Certainly, he's not in very good shape.
"We're anxious to get back to a really normal routine and we have. We're moving on."
Several of Phelps' Olympic teammates rallied to his defense. Among them was Dara Torres, the 41-year-old silver medalist whom Phelps jokingly referred to in Beijing as "Mom."
"I see him as a kid trying to grow up in the most intense spotlight known to any athlete. He has apologized and what else can he do?" she told the AP by telephone. "The thing I hope is that people realize Michael is still a person and not just a swimming hero."
Torres said she sent Phelps a text message to extend her support.
"He didn't let the USA down at the games, so we shouldn't let him down," she said.
Torres doesn't expect a three-month suspension in a non-Olympic year to have much affect on Phelps' career. He has said he wants to continue swimming through the 2012 London Games.
"Knowing Michael the way I do, I guarantee you it's going to make him want to do well," Torres said. "All this is going to do is light a fire under him."
Amanda Beard compared Phelps' ordeal to some of the disdain she faced after posing nude in Playboy magazine a year before the Beijing Games.
"If anyone knows public scrutiny, it's me," the four-time Olympian said in a text message. "When I posed for Playboy, so many officials looked down on me. Michael knows he isn't a bad person. He made a mistake. People need to get over it. I want to cheer him on in London."
Gold medalist Ryan Lochte, one of Phelps' teammates and main rivals in Beijing, said: "It really is kind of harsh. It's just a picture."
And even a rival agent came to Phelps' defense.
"Enough is enough," said Evan Morgenstein, who represents a large number of Olympic swimmers. "The penalty is far greater than the crime. He has said he is sorry. Let's move on to the real problems in this country."
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On the Web:
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/

Stroy found here.

Michael Phelps is a swimming god.

He did it! He won eight (8) count em! EIGHT gold medals in one Olympic year, which makes like 14 gold total. Holy fucking shit. And I am so excited to say I was in my living room or on my work computer screaming, cheering him on every single inch of the way. And the awesome thing is this kinda stuff has brought America together to cheer, to scream USA! As I have been doing for every event team USA is in. Even when we lose, or don't do well I have still been there cheering them on. Fuck yeah.

Golden Boy Michael Phelps Eager for His Own Bed

Eager for a break, Michael Phelps lets others ponder his legacy while he soaks up the rewards

By PAUL NEWBERRY

The Associated Press

BEIJING

Michael Phelps kept every swimsuit, every cap, every pair of goggles he wore during nine magical days at the Water Cube. Every memory will be savored, too, from goofing off with his U.S. teammates to bowing his head not one, not two, but eight times to receive a gold medal at the Beijing Games.

"There are moments I'll never forget," he said.

Neither will the whole world.

Phelps took down the grandest of Olympic records Sunday in the final event at the pool, helping the Americans rally for a world-record win in the 400-meter medley relay. That victory, one more than Mark Spitz managed at the 1972 Munich Games, assured him a place in sports history and a legacy of, well, does he even need one?

Wait, there's more. In his pursuit of Spitz, which actually began four years ago with six gold medals in Athens, Phelps became the winningest Olympian ever with 14 victories, five more than any other athlete.

Even though the Americans have never lost the medley relay at the Olympics, the latest gold was hardly a breeze. When Phelps dived into the water for the butterfly — the third of four legs — the Americans were third behind Japan and Australia.

But Phelps, swimming the same distance and stroke that he used to win his seventh gold a day earlier, powered back to the front on his return lap, passing off to Jason Lezak with the Americans in front. Australia's Eamon Sullivan tried to chase down Lezak and appeared to be gaining as they came to the wall. But Lezak touched in 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds — the seventh world record of Phelps' remarkable run.

Afterward, Phelps gathered his three mates in a group huddle, then hugged each one of them separately. He thanked them for their role in the last of his three relay wins. They congratulated him for his remarkable feat.

"It was cool," backstroker Aaron Peirsol said. "We got to be a part of it."

Another member of the relay team, breaststroker Brendan Hansen, was most impressed by the way Phelps detached himself from all the hype once he got away from the pool. He'd set a world record in the morning, then go back to the village and act like nothing had happened.

"I'd be like, 'Do you realize what you're doing?'" Hansen said. "And he'd be like, 'Man, the pizza is good today.'"

But deep down, Phelps was soaking it all in — the glory and the minutiae. He had all the medals hanging in his room. By the end of the games, Hansen quipped, they resembled a wind chime.

As much as he relished the actual races, what he really seemed to treasure most were those behind-the-scenes moments. Unlike Spitz, who was viewed as aloof and even arrogant by his fellow swimmers, Phelps got along with all his teammates, even though they all knew he was in a league of his own.

He hung out with them during his down time in the athletes' village, playing cards and the world-conquering game Risk. He made a point to engage the Olympic rookies he didn't know very well. He did what lots of other 23-year-olds did — play hip-hop music and text his buddies.

"I just wanted to make sure I took every single moment in and every single swim in, every single moment with my teammates, so I would remember them," Phelps said. "I don't want to forget anything that happened."

No one else does, either.

Everyone at the pool was mesmerized by Phelps, even if they were competing for another country.

"I couldn't care less about my swims," said Australia's Leisel Jones, who won two gold medals. "To swim in the same era as him has been awesome."

Spitz's record had stood since the Nixon administration. Australian coach Alan Thompson figures it might take even longer for someone to take down the new mark.

"We've been talking about Mark Spitz for 36 years now," Thompson said. "I don't know if I'm going to be alive when they stop talking about this bloke. You wonder if we are going to see someone as good as this again."

After Spitz's performance in 1972, there surely were folks who believed an unattainable record had just been set, that no one would ever collect so many gold medals at a single Olympics. But that merely set a new target for everyone.

Phelps was the one who finally hit the bull's-eye.

"Being able to have something like that to shoot for, it made those days when I was tired and I didn't want to be there ... it made those days easier to look at (Spitz) and say, `I want to do this,'" Phelps said. "I'm just thankful for him having done what he did."

Somewhere, there's probably a child who will head to the pool a little early to get started on his dream of winning nine gold medals.

Phelps surely hopes so. Every chance he gets, he talks of wanting to raise the sport's profile in the U.S., where it barely gets noticed in non-Olympic years outside of neighborhood swim meets. He was the star attraction in Beijing, drawing huge television ratings back home — where the morning finals could be shown live in the evening.

President Bush watched Phelps win two races. Basketball stars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were there Sunday, rooting him on to his eighth gold.

"The sport of swimming has come a long way so far, and I think it can go even further," he said. "I can take it even further."

The kid who was scared to put his face in the water has grown into the face of his sport. There surely will be plenty of promotional appearances in the days and weeks to come, as Phelps tries to capitalize on his accomplishments while they're still fresh in the public's mind. He hopes to bring everyone along for the ride.

"Mike is opening a lot of doors with what he's doing," Peirsol said. "Hopefully the sport can build on this momentum."

Not that anyone will see Phelps in a LZR Racer anytime soon. He'll take a nice, long break from swimming. The early morning wake-up calls, the grueling weight sessions, the endless laps in the pool — all are on hold for now.

Besides, he has to pack. Phelps will be moving back to Baltimore after spending the last four years in Michigan, where he grew into a man and learned to be on his own for the first time.

Home sounds pretty good to the 23-year-old Phelps, who has a strong relationship with his mother, Debbie, and two older sisters. Phelps' parents split when he was only 7, and the relationship with his father has long been strained, but the women in his life cheered him every step of the way in Beijing.

After the eighth gold, Phelps climbed into stands to give all three of them a kiss. Debbie gave her boy a little extra hug, tears streaming down her face.

"I just want to lay in my own bed for five minutes at least and just relax," Phelps said. "One of the things I'm really looking forward to is getting back to Baltimore."

Not that he's breaking up his hugely successful partnership with coach Bob Bowman. They've been together since Phelps was an overactive 11-year-old, bouncing off the walls when he wasn't beating everyone in the pool. They headed off to Michigan together when Bowman took a job there. Now, the coach is returning to the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, where their relationship was forged.

Phelps plans to return to the pool in plenty of time to get ready for next year's world championships in Rome, where he'll start to tinker with the program that worked so well in Athens and was even better in Beijing. He plans to dump the 400 individual medley, the most grueling race on his schedule, and would like to take on some shorter events.

The 100 freestyle is the most likely addition.

"He thinks it'll be a little easier," Bowman said. "He's more naturally suited for longer distances. It'll be change for him, but I think it'll be a good one."

Four years from now, Phelps has every intention of returning for the London Games, where he'll be able to add to his already remarkable record.

"Bob has a saying, 'Putting money in the bank,' " Phelps said. "When we train every day, sometimes there are workouts you don't like, don't want to do. Bob says you're putting money in the bank.

"I guess I put a lot of money in the bank over the last four years, and we withdrew pretty much every penny in the bank. After Bob and I both grab a little break, it'll be time to start depositing."

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