In his first interview since a photo surfaced showing him smoking from a marijuana pipe, Michael Phelps said yesterday that the intense public scrutiny has him contemplating whether he will swim in the 2012 Olympics.
Phelps, who said that he "clearly made a mistake" and that the past week has been both embarrassing and uncomfortable for him, spoke with The Baltimore Sun inside Meadowbrook Aquatic Center after finishing his daily workout. While he still has goals he wants to achieve in the sport, he said, he's going to discuss it with his family and his coach, Bob Bowman.
"This is a decision of mine that I'm not going to make today and I'm not going to make tomorrow," Phelps said. "It's going to require a lot of time and energy and a lot of thinking for myself - but also talking to Bob and talking to my family and just deciding what I want to do.
"Yeah, there are still goals that I have in the pool, 100 percent. But I'm not going to let anything stand in my way. If I decide to walk away, I'll decide to walk away on my own terms. If it's now, if it's four years, who knows. But it is something I need to think about and decide what I want to do."
Bowman said that he doesn't foresee Phelps retiring until after the 2012 London Olympics but that he understands how difficult it is for the 23-year-old to live up to the public's expectations.
Phelps, who grew up in Rodgers Forge, said he realizes that his actions seem that much more foolish considering that this is his second public slip-up, after a drunken-driving arrest in 2004. He said it "definitely wasn't easy" to tell his mother, Debbie, a principal at Windsor Mill Middle School, about the picture.
"Seeing my mom reminded me of how it was the day after I got my DUI, and I swore to myself I'd never do that again," he said. "This is just a stupid thing of mine that I did, and I have to live with it."
Phelps said he has spent the past few days with his mother and two sisters after the photo was published in Britain's News of the World over the weekend. "We've been talking a lot," he said. "I've been able to get back to my family. It's part of my life I need back."
When asked whether he regularly smoked marijuana, Phelps said he did not.
"This was stupid, and I know this won't happen again," he said. "It's obviously bad judgment, and it's something I'm not proud of at all. I will say that with the mistakes that I've made in my life, I've learned from them. Every one of them. And I've become a better person. That's what I plan to do from here. It's definitely not what I wanted, and it's clearly not what my mom wanted."
