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USA Swimming Suspends Phelps 
Feb 5, 2009 Link Michael Phelps was suspended from competition for three months by USA Swimming, the latest fallout from a photo that showed the Olympic great inhaling from a marijuana pipe. The sport’s national governing body also cut off its financial support to Phelps for the same three-month period, effective Thursday. “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-based federation 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. Now he’s enduring a wave of bad news in the wake of the photo, published Sunday by News of the World, a British tabloid. Earlier Thursday, cereal and snack maker Kellogg Co. announced 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’s been through a lot and he’s learned a lot, hopefully,” his coach, Bob Bowman, told The Associated Press during 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.” Phelps has acknowledged “regrettable” behavior and “bad judgment.” 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.” The 23-year-old has resumed training in his hometown of Baltimore, but his plans to return to competitive swimming will have to be put on hold. Phelps had planned to compete in early March at a Grand Prix meet in Austin, Texas. Now, he won’t be able to compete until early May, which would give him a little more than two months for some racing before July’s world championships in Rome. “This is the result of a poor decision Michael made. He understands there is accountability and has pledged to not repeat this in the future,” U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said in an e-mail. “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., and 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, which begin July 7 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.” Los Angeles sports writer Beth Harris also contributed to this report. | |
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I hope he had fun with that bong.  [Edited 2/5/09 19:11pm] | |
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i guess he'll be endorsing High Times instead  To make a thief, make an owner; to create crime, create laws. | |
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Good. If they ruin other athletes' lives over drugs, he should feel the effect, too. | |
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Dope is for dopes.  | |
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Someone said Phelps getting busted for being a doper wouldn't hurt him at all, but I guess they were wrong about that. | |
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...had to happen here....someone should thank him for putting us on the map again....  I'm feelin kind of n-a-s-t-y
I might just take you home with me | |
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RodeoSchro said: Someone said Phelps getting busted for being a doper wouldn't hurt him at all, but I guess they were wrong about that.
3 more months to concentrate on training, no biggie. | |
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I think he wants out of swimming. The break after Beijing was his first ever and I believe he enjoyed it too much. I'm not sure he'll go back to swimming and why should he? It's not like he has anything more to prove.
Should he do drugs? See Dayclear's post. | |
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Vendetta1 said: Good. If they ruin other athletes' lives over drugs, he should feel the effect, too.
Yep! nWo: bboy87 - Timmy84 - LittleBlueCorvette - MuthaFunka - phunkdaddy - Christopher
MuthaFunka - Black...by popular demand | |
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I beleive that he should b stripped of all his medals 2!!!!! He was a role model for kids and he should b brought 2 shame over this!!! Plus, if he indulged himself in this type of drug, it makes u wonder, if he took other illegal drugs for performance enhancement and thereby "earned" his medals dishonourably!!! | |
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What Michael Phelps Should Have Said
Dear America,
I take it back. I don’t apologize. Because you know what? It’s none of your goddamned business. I work my ass off 10 months a year. It’s that hard work that gave you all those gooey feelings of patriotism last summer. If during my brief window of down time I want to relax, enjoy myself, and partake of a substance that’s a hell of a lot less bad for me than alcohol, tobacco, or, frankly, most of the prescription drugs most of you are taking, well, you can spare me the lecture. I put myself through hell. I make my body do things nature never really intended us to endure. All world-class athletes do. We do it because you love to watch us push ourselves as far as we can possibly go. Some of us get hurt. Sometimes permanently. You’re watching the Super Bowl tonight. You’re watching 300 pound men smash each while running at full speed, in full pads. You know what the average life expectancy of an NFL player is? Fifty-five. That’s about 20 years shorter than your average non-NFL player. Yet you watch. And cheer. And you jump up spill your beer when a linebacker lays out a wide receiver on a crossing route across the middle. The harder he gets hit, the louder and more enthusiastically you scream. Yet you all get bent out of shape when Ricky Williams, or I, or Josh Howard smoke a little dope to relax. Why? Because the idiots you’ve elected to make your laws have, without a shred of evidence, beat it into your head that smoking marijuana is something akin to drinking antifreeze, and done only by dirty hippies and sex offenders. You’ll have to pardon my cynicism. But I call bullshit. You don’t give a damn about my health. You just get a voyeuristic thrill from watching an elite athlete fall from grace–all the better if you get to exercise a little moral righteousness in the process. And it’s hypocritical righteousness at that, given that 40 percent of you have tried pot at least once in your lives. Here’s a crazy thought: If I can smoke a little dope and go on to win 14 Olympic gold medals, maybe pot smokers aren’t doomed to lives of couch surfing and video games, as our moronic government would have us believe. In fact, the list of successful pot smokers includes not just world class athletes like me, Howard, Williams, and others, it includes Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, the last three U.S. presidents, several Supreme Court justices, and luminaries and success stories from all sectors of business and the arts, sciences, and humanities. So go ahead. Ban me from the next Olympics. Yank my endorsement deals. Stick your collective noses in the air and get all indignant on me. While you’re at it, keep arresting cancer and AIDS patients who dare to smoke the stuff because it deadens their pain, or enables them to eat. Keep sending in goon squads to kick down doors and shoot little old ladies, maim innocent toddlers, handcuff elderly post-polio patients to their beds at gunpoint, and slaughter the family pet. Tell you what. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll apologize for smoking pot when every politician who ever did drugs and then voted to uphold or strengthen the drug laws marches his ass off to the nearest federal prison to serve out the sentence he wants to impose on everyone else for committing the same crimes he committed. I’ll apologize when the sons, daughters, and nephews of powerful politicians who get caught possessing or dealing drugs in the frat house or prep school get the same treatment as the no-name, probably black kid caught on the corner or the front stoop doing the same thing. Until then, I for one will have none of it. I smoked pot. I liked it. I’ll probably do it again. I refuse to apologize for it, because by apologizing I help perpetuate this stupid lie, this idea that what someone puts into his own body on his own time is any of the government’s damned business. Or any of yours. I’m not going to bend over and allow myself to be propaganda for this wasteful, ridiculous, immoral war. Go ahead and tear me down if you like. But let’s see you rationalize in your next lame ONDCP commercial how the greatest motherfucking swimmer the world has ever seen...is also a proud pot smoker. Yours, Michael Phelps No hard feelings. | |
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great letter
and his light suspension of 3 months i am using here in japan to contrast his story with the latest story here in Japan about Sumo wrestlers smoking a little i think most japanese think pot is the devil or something meanwhile people are allowed to drink alcohol here in public go figure | |
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It doesn´t really imporve his athletic performance, so therefore I don´t understand all the hoopla about this at all. It´s not like he´s used steroids.
The letter posted by Wall, though purely fictional, is a great responsem IMO. Could any of those who have slammed Phelps in this thread please explain to me what their problem with Phelps´ behaviour is ? Seriously, I ´m really curious about it.What he did is in no way supposed to boost your athletic performance, so I don´t know why he gets octracized like that. " I´d rather be a stank ass hoe because I´m not stupid. Oh my goodness! I got more drugs! I´m always funny dude...I´m hilarious! Are we gonna smoke?" | |
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This whole thing is so stupid. Fine suspend him 3 months, but get over it already. I'm so sick of hearing about this all over the news.
He's a fuckin kid, not a clergyman or an elected official. He was taking a hit off a bong, not shooting up or smoking crack. I don't see the big deal. | |
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JustErin said: RodeoSchro said: Someone said Phelps getting busted for being a doper wouldn't hurt him at all, but I guess they were wrong about that.
3 more months to concentrate on training, no biggie. Just lost his $5 million dollar deal with Kellogg's and Subway is probably next, but no biggie, right? | |
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That's a nice RooR he's ripping there! | |
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RodeoSchro said: JustErin said: 3 more months to concentrate on training, no biggie. Just lost his $5 million dollar deal with Kellogg's and Subway is probably next, but no biggie, right? No, because as I said, other deals will come his way. Americans are funny. | |
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3 months is a vacation. | |
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Omega watches and Speedo, two of his biggest sponsors, both said big deal.
I understand individual's reaction and stance on marijuana. But christ, it's not that big of a deal. 
Poor judgement, yes. But does the 23 year old kid deserve to be lambasted over this? Athletes drink and drive and get caught all the time and don't get near this backlash. The holier than thou mentality in my country borders on ridiculous at times. It's a fucking flower. BIG WHOOP. double | |
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Should've just did salvia. | |
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JerseyKRS said: Omega watches and Speedo, two of his biggest sponsors, both said big deal.
I understand individual's reaction and stance on marijuana. But christ, it's not that big of a deal.
Poor judgement, yes. But does the 23 year old kid deserve to be lambasted over this? Athletes drink and drive and get caught all the time and don't get near this backlash. The holier than thou mentality in my country borders on ridiculous at times. It's a fucking flower. BIG WHOOP. double For real. The argument of 'whether you agree with pot use or not, he's broken the law' would be a good one if people never broke a law in their lives - which we all know - 99.9% of people have at some time or another. | |
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JustErin said: JerseyKRS said: Omega watches and Speedo, two of his biggest sponsors, both said big deal.
I understand individual's reaction and stance on marijuana. But christ, it's not that big of a deal.
Poor judgement, yes. But does the 23 year old kid deserve to be lambasted over this? Athletes drink and drive and get caught all the time and don't get near this backlash. The holier than thou mentality in my country borders on ridiculous at times. It's a fucking flower. BIG WHOOP. double For real. The argument of 'whether you agree with pot use or not, he's broken the law' would be a good one if people never broke a law in their lives - which we all know - 99.9% of people have at some time or another. Exactly. Plus, I'm part of the population that knows how and why the US Government made it "illegal", it has NOTHING to do with it's effects. Like, really, zip, zero. All political reasons. That's why we're moving to Italy in about nine years. | |
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JustErin said: RodeoSchro said: Just lost his $5 million dollar deal with Kellogg's and Subway is probably next, but no biggie, right? No, because as I said, other deals will come his way. Americans are funny. Yeah, for some reason we get upset with people that break the law and let us down. Weird, huh? When you find out about these "other deals" that are headed his way, be sure to let me know. | |
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KoolEaze said: It doesn´t really imporve his athletic performance, so therefore I don´t understand all the hoopla about this at all. It´s not like he´s used steroids.
The letter posted by Wall, though purely fictional, is a great responsem IMO. Could any of those who have slammed Phelps in this thread please explain to me what their problem with Phelps´ behaviour is ? Seriously, I ´m really curious about it.What he did is in no way supposed to boost your athletic performance, so I don´t know why he gets octracized like that. I guarantee you important people are asking this question: If Michael Phelps would use one drug, what other drugs might he use? And yep - steroids falls into the "other drugfs" category. | |
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JerseyKRS said: Omega watches and Speedo, two of his biggest sponsors, both said big deal.
I understand individual's reaction and stance on marijuana. But christ, it's not that big of a deal.
Poor judgement, yes. But does the 23 year old kid deserve to be lambasted over this? Athletes drink and drive and get caught all the time and don't get near this backlash. The holier than thou mentality in my country borders on ridiculous at times. It's a fucking flower. BIG WHOOP. double Phelps got a DUI in 2004. | |
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JustErin said: JerseyKRS said: Omega watches and Speedo, two of his biggest sponsors, both said big deal.
I understand individual's reaction and stance on marijuana. But christ, it's not that big of a deal.
Poor judgement, yes. But does the 23 year old kid deserve to be lambasted over this? Athletes drink and drive and get caught all the time and don't get near this backlash. The holier than thou mentality in my country borders on ridiculous at times. It's a fucking flower. BIG WHOOP. double For real. The argument of 'whether you agree with pot use or not, he's broken the law' would be a good one if people never broke a law in their lives - which we all know - 99.9% of people have at some time or another. Erin, that is just ridiculous. Using your logic, condemning someone for murder is wrong because, hey - the judge and jury probably also broke some law in their life. The first rule you need to follow when you find yourself in a hole is "quit digging". [Edited 2/6/09 7:43am] | |
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Phelps: "It's no big deal"
Others: "Throw them out of the league" | |
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RodeoSchro said: JerseyKRS said: Omega watches and Speedo, two of his biggest sponsors, both said big deal.
I understand individual's reaction and stance on marijuana. But christ, it's not that big of a deal.
Poor judgement, yes. But does the 23 year old kid deserve to be lambasted over this? Athletes drink and drive and get caught all the time and don't get near this backlash. The holier than thou mentality in my country borders on ridiculous at times. It's a fucking flower. BIG WHOOP. double Phelps got a DUI in 2004. yeah, I know. and he's getting attacked more for this picture than that incident.  | |
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