Michael Phelps may have been caught smoking cannabis at a party

Scoop that News of the World draws on the cover. The digital newspaper headline says it all: "This is the image that could destroy the career of the best Olympic athlete in history."

In it we see the great Michael Phelps, winner of 8 Olympic gold in Beijing and 6 in Athens, smoking a water pipe, usually used for smoking cannabis. This did not have more important if maximum sporting estates had not ruled that any athlete who used drugs would be punished with four years of suspension, which would exclude the participation of Michael Phelps in the 2012 London Olympics, the last that the swimmer has thought perform.

The photograph was taken in November, for a few days when swimming schedule leaves time for relaxation of athletes, a period in which no drug testing or drug. However, Michael Phelps has always passed voluntary controls.

"If he continues at parties like that surprised me a lot more to win a medal," said one witness of the party.

"You can say that Michael had smoked before, knew exactly what to do."

I personally do not give much importance to the event itself, but to an athlete the likes of Michael Phelps has these errors because, even as a young athlete, his responsibility is great, whether as king sport or as a role model for children. And an athlete the likes of Phelps must have the nerve to not make these mistakes that can pursue for the rest of his career. The media-oriented world is very hard and found a rich vein here.