A photo of the popular gold medalist smoking from what appeared to be a marijuana pipe appeared in a British tabloid recently. The sheriff does not seem to care that Phelps has more gold medals than any other person or that is public relations team wrote him an apologetic statement.
No where in the world are there enough jail cells to hold every person who thinks it is accpetable to smoke marijuana, and Phelps will not be jailed no matter how hard the Richland County sherifs office tries. Phelps has done enough damage to his reputation with out being sent to jail.
This is Phelps second tango with the law after winning golds at the Olympics. A few short months after the then 19-year old won six golds in Athens he was charged with driving under the influence. But his popularity regained itself after these past Olympics and Phelps was projecected to make $100 million in endorsements.
Even though most of his advertisers said they would stay with him, his image is hurt. The American public now has the image of Phelps with a bong pressed against his face burned into their memory. Phelps knows he will have to live with his decisions and wants to grow from it.
"By no means is it fun for me. By no means is it easy," he said to The Associated Press after a swim.
Photo courtesy of CCTV International
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No need to apologize
Original article from Caledonian Record, by Tim Dahlberg, AP Sports Columnist
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