Phelps bong smoking pics are at News of The World

Record-setting Olympian Michael Phelps was photographed taking a hit off a bong at a party at the University of South Carolina. The photo was said to be taken in early November when Phelps was secretly seeing a co-ed at the college, probably one of many women he was seeing at the time. News of The World has the photo along with a party-goer’s account that he was smoking weed, drinking beer and doing plenty of shots with everyone. It’s not really surprising or shocking, but Phelps has a reputation as a highly focused athlete and plenty of multi-million dollar endorsement deals to protect. News Of The World claims that his people worked hard to try and convince them not to run the story:

The US Olympics Committee, who have pledged to clamp down on drug use, refused to comment, as did USA Swimming and Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman.

More surprising still was the World Anti-Doping Agency’s refusal to comment, given that they introduced the four-year ban on sport’s drug users.

Phelps, who earned £4million last year in endorsements, has resumed training for the 2012 games.

But there were fears about his commitment when, weeks after the bong incident, he began dating former stripper Caroline Pal.

Phelps is represented by marketing giant Octagon, which works with huge brands such as Mastercard and HSBC. They admitted proven cannabis use would be “a major taint” on Phelps’ character.

Spokesman Clifford Bloxham offered us an extraordinary deal not to publish our story, saying Phelps would become our columnist for three years, host events and get his sponsors to advertise with us.

In return, he asked that we kill Phelps’ bong picture. Bloxham said: “It’s seeing if something potentially very negative for Michael could turn into something very positive for the News of the World.”

He stressed that the swimmer had taken 1,500 drug tests and never failed one.

[From News of The World]

After News of The World refused Phelps’ spokesperson’s offer, he handled the situation with a well worded admission. Phelps has good people behind him who know how to deal with the press:

I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I’m 23 years old and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again

It’s a blip on the media radar that will affect Phelps more than anyone else. Marijuana use is common and not that damning, but for athletes there are more issues to consider. As one the top Olympians in the world Phelps doesn’t want to tarnish his image with some recreational pot use. That’s his business, though, and if he doesn’t pass a drug test he won’t be allowed to compete. When you consider all the people paying him to endorse their products he’s only costing himself money by drinking and smoking up at parties. Phelps shaped himself into an incredible athlete with focused hard work and determinism. He has to be more discreet with his partying if he wants to enjoy the perks that go along with that.

Michael Phelps is shown at book signings for his new biography on 12/9/08 and 12/10/08 and filming a commercial for Mazda on 1/14/09. Credit: WENN