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."
"Michael accepts these decisions and understands their point of view," said one of his agents, Drew Johnson. "He feels bad he let anyone down."
Post a Comment
