Phelps’ ban could hit 2016 Olympics dream

BALTIMORE — Michael Phelps’ quest to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro may take a major hit after USA Swimming suspended the 18-time Olympic champion on Monday for six months after his second arrest for drink driving last week.

Apart from being banned from all USA Swimming-sanctioned meets until April 6 next year, Phelps has also been forced to withdraw from next year’s World Championships in Kazan, Russia — the most important swimming meet after the Olympics — thereby missing out on a valuable opportunity to assess the competition a year before the Rio Games.

Although he can train with his North Baltimore club, Phelps, 29, will also lose his monthly stipend of US$1,750 (S$2,230) for six months, costing him a total of US$10,500, although that is small change compared with the millions he earns with sponsors such as Aqua Sphere, Subway, Under Armour and Omega.

“Michael accepts USA Swimming’s sanctions,” said a statement from his representatives at Octagon, reported the Associated Press. “He has apologised for his actions and, as he shared yesterday, is taking steps to address them.”

The United States Olympic Committee has welcomed the sanction by USA Swimming, which said Phelps violated its Code of Conduct.

“Michael’s conduct was serious and required significant consequences,” said USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus. “We endorse and are here to fully support his personal development actions.”

Phelps, who is also entering a six-week, inpatient programme, will also miss the first three US Grand Prix meets in Minneapolis in November, Austin, Texas, in January and Orlando, Florida, in February. The earliest he could return to Grand Prix competition would be at a meet in Mesa, Arizona, that begins April 15.

USA Swimming’s punishment was its harshest ever imposed on its superstar. The governing body suspended Phelps for three months in 2009 after a photo emerged of him using a marijuana pipe, even though he was not charged. USA Swimming took no action after Phelps’ 2004 drunken driving arrest when he was 19.

Phelps, whose trial is on Nov 19, was charged on Sept 30 by the Maryland Transportation Authority for drink driving, excessive speed and crossing double lane lines on Interstate 95 in his native Baltimore. If convicted, he faces up to one year in jail, a US$1,000 fine and the loss of his driver’s licence for six months.

With fears that his latest arrest — he was also charged for drink driving in 2004 — could dent his ability to draw top sponsorship dollars, this ban could affect his chances at the 2016 Olympics as well.

Said USA Today columnist Nancy Armour: “While the ban won’t keep Phelps from the 2016 Olympics, it costs him a chance to size up his competition he could see in Rio de Janeiro, no small thing in a sport where past results are used to plot out training and competition schedules.” AGENCIES