Olympic Swimming Champion Michael Phelps Suspended After 2nd DUI

By Rob Gloster  

Photographer: Patrick Hamilton/AFP via Getty Images

Micheal Phelps of the U.S. reacts following the Men's 200m Individual Medley at the... Read More

Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps was suspended for six months by USA Swimming, less than a week after he was charged in Baltimore with driving under the influence for the second time in a decade.
Phelps, 29, who has a record 18 Olympic gold medals, announced two days ago that he’ll take time off from swimming to attend a rehabilitation program.
USA Swimming also said yesterday in a news release on its website that Phelps will not represent the U.S. at the 2015 swimming world championships next August in Kazan, Russia.
“Membership in USA Swimming, and particularly at the national team level, includes a clear obligation to adhere to our code of conduct,” USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus said in the release. “Should an infraction occur, it is our responsibility to
take appropriate action based on the individual case. Michael’s conduct was serious and required significant consequences.”
In 2004, Phelps was placed on 18 months probation and fined $250 in a plea agreement on a drunken-driving charge -- also in Maryland. Five years later, a British newspaper ran a photograph of Phelps inhaling from a pipe used to smoke marijuana at a college party in South Carolina.
He retired after the London Olympics, after winning a record 22 Olympic medals, then returned this April and said he had changed his mind because he missed the sport. He won three gold medals and two silvers at the Pan Pacific Championships in Australia in August.
“The past few days have been extremely difficult,” he wrote two days ago on his Facebook page. “I recognize that this is not my first lapse in judgment, and I am extremely disappointed with myself. I’m going to take some time away to attend a program that will provide the help I need to better understand myself.”