Michael Phelps Says 3-Month Suspension Is Fair

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Michael Phelps says 3-month suspension is fair, eager to put pot photo fallout behind him

Michael Phelps says it's fair for USA Swimming to suspend him for three months, the latest fallout from a photo showing the Olympic great inhaling from a marijuana pipe. Phelps was back training at his regular pool Friday, a day after his suspension.

"It's not my decision. It's theirs," Phelps said of USA Swimming's decision. "I have nothing to say, but if that's they want to do, that's their choice. It's something that USA Swimming came up with. It's fair. Obviously, for a mistake you should get punished."

Phelps won a record eight gold medals in Beijing and returned to America as one of the world's most acclaimed athletes. He made headlines of a different kind, however, in the wake of the photo, published Sunday by News of the World, a British tabloid.

Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps trains at the Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009, in Baltimore. USA Swimming suspended Michael Phelps for three months.

(AP Photo)

"It was bad and stupid judgment, and something I'll always live with," Phelps said, minutes before diving into the pool at the Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, where he has trained since he was 7.

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