By Alex Rivero

News Editor, ‘09

Die-hard fans are flabbergasted, executives of high-profile endorsement deals are disappointed, and pot-smokers everywhere cannot help but snicker at the latest pictures of 14-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps smoking marijuana from a pipe.

Phelps, who vaulted to international stardom during his dominance of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing by winning a record eight gold medals in swimming, appeared in London-based Sunday-tabloid News of the World apparently smoking from a glass bong, a water pipe most commonly used for smoking cannabis. The alleged picture was taken at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where Phelps was visiting Jordan Matthews, a female student who he was secretly dating. The paper’s anonymous source further relates that the athlete partied each night he was there.

There has been an onslaught of responses concerning the issue, ranging from raw anger and disappointment to genuine lightheartedness. At the core of the debate lies the ever-taboo nature of the “marijuana conversation,” the ongoing debate as to whether using the drug should be allowed or not. For most people in the United States, the conversation is too hot to even touch.

Phelps has publicly admitted to the photograph’s validity and offered an apology. Many of his sponsors – from apparel company Speedo to luxury Swiss watchmaker Omega – have chosen to stand by his side, for now at least. Several other large corporations, like Visa Inc., Kellogg Co., and Subway have not issued official press releases or statements. His aides have warned Phelps that another public controversy could prove fatal for his public relations opportunities.

In 2004, after the Olympic Games in Athens, a then nineteen-year-old Phelps was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. He admitted to the error, apologized for exercising poor judgment, and vowed never to commit the same error again. At stake if Phelps is caught committing a third act of transgression are not only many of his sponsorships, but the public’s trust in him.

Still, many find irony in the fact that such a highly decorated athlete is at the center of a media controversy over the sudden emergence of a photograph in which he is engaged in an activity many governments ban because of its alleged negative influence on human functions – including mental synchronization.

A Saint Peter’s College junior, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “It is public discussions about trivial affairs such as these that kill American brain cells, not necessarily marijuana. It’s flat out amazing that the man can essentially conquer a global competition – probably the only person in the world who could have done so – and at the end of the day be remembered for being at the center of such a stupid public outcry.”

The US Olympic Team has thus far remained quiet on the matter.