9th
Michael
A picture of Michael Phelps smoking marijuana was recently made public. For anyone who has been living in a cave, Michael Phelps is an American swimmer who recently won eight gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He earned more medals than anyone has ever earned at a single Olympics, boosting him into the American spotlight. He was on the cover of countless magazines and was a major topic of discussion. It seemed that he was on the top of the world until this recent scandal. After a warm up in the 2004 Olympics (he only won 6 gold metals you know) the world was shocked when the golden boy got a DUI. One would thing that he had learned his lesson however. Instead, as if it is a tradition, Phelps was again caught for substance abuse after these Olympics. However this time he has more to lose and the substance was illegal. A few of his sponsors, including Kellogg’s, have dropped him because of his newly tainted image and US swimming has suspended him for three months.
All of this made me wonder what it is that would make someone who is on top of the world make such a rash decision that could have bad repercussions when it is so easy to get caught. To most Americans, it seems as if he has a perfect life and that this is just a stupid kid not thinking through what he is doing. However I feel like there could have been more to his motives than just a high. He might have been reaching out for attention as his Olympic success stopped being the main topic of conversation. Or maybe he was tired of his life being just about swimming and he was looking for a way out of it and tell the world that he is a normal kid instead of some kind of god.
