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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado : Record-breaking Olympic champion Michael Phelps has been suspended for three months by USA Swimming after a published photograph appeared to show him smoking marijuana.
The national governing body of the sport stressed that the punishment was not for a doping violation, but said they wanted to send a "strong message" to Phelps about his status as a role model for young people.
"USA Swimming has reprimanded Michael Phelps under its Code of Conduct by withdrawing financial support and the eligibility to compete for a period of three months effective today, February 5," said a statement issued late 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.
"Michael has voluntarily accepted this reprimand and has committed to earn back our trust," the statement added.
Phelps had been expected to return to competition for the first time since the Olympics at a USA Swimming Grand Prix meeting in Austin, Texas in early March.
Now he won't be able to race until May. That would still allow him to compete at the US National Championships in Indianapolis in July, the qualifying meet for the World Championships in Rome July 18-August 2.
Any plans Phelps had for the post-Olympic season were plunged into disarray when Britain's News of the World published the photograph in which Phelps appeared to inhale from a glass pipe of the kind used to smoke marijuana.
The newspaper said the photo was taken at a university party in South Carolina in November.
The 23-year-old swimmer, who electrified the Beijing Games in August when he won an unprecedented eight gold medals, told his hometown newspaper the Baltimore Sun on Wednesday that the incident showed "obviously bad judgment and it's something I'm not proud of at all."
Phelps suffered more fall-out on Thursday, when US food company Kellogg's said it would not renew its endorsement deal with the Olympian when it expires at the end of the month.
"Michael's most recent behavior is not consistent with the image of Kellogg," company spokeswoman Susanne Norwitz said in a statement.
"Michael accepts these decisions and understands their point of view," a spokesman for Phelps's agents Octagon said. "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."
Several other sponsors, including apparel manufacturer Speedo and watchmaker Omega, have stood by Phelps.
Speedo was the company that forked over a one million-dollar bonus as Phelps surpassed US swimming icon Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record of seven gold medals at one Games in Beijing.
In Beijing Phelps set seven world records en route to his eight gold medals. He took his total of Olympic titles to a record 14, including six from the 2004 Athens Games.
In the glow of that success Phelps said he would return for the 2012 Olympics in London, but he indicated to the Baltimore Sun that the bruising publicity he has received this week could prompt him to reconsider.
"This is a decision of mine that I'm not going to make today and I'm not going to make tomorrow," Phelps told the newspaper, saying any move would include discussions with his longtime coach and mentor, Bob Bowman.
Since the photo was published, Phelps said he has come under intense scrutiny -- of a far different sort than he received in the wake of his Olympic triumph.
"I've been waking up to guys yelling into megaphones outside my window at 7 o'clock in the morning," Phelps said. "I've had paparazzi people following me from my house to my mom's house. People knocking on the door."
It's not the first time Phelps has had to polish his image. In 2004, after he won six gold medals and two bronze at the Athens Olympics, the 19-year-old Phelps pleaded guilty to drunken driving and received 18 months probation.
"I think this is like the DUI, in that it's something I can talk more about and make sure that nobody makes the same mistakes I made," Phelps told the newspaper. "What I've gone through in the last week, no one wants to go through."
- AFP/il
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