Olympian Michael Phelps suspends comeback, seeks help after latest DUI
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Version 0 of 1. Michael Phelps, the 18-time Olympic gold medal swimmer, announced Sunday morning he was stepping away from the sport and suspending his comeback attempt to seek help following his arrest last week on charges of driving under the influence. Phelps, 29, was arrested early Tuesday morning near downtown Baltimore and was charged with DUI, excessive speeding and crossing double lane lines. The DUI charge was his second in about 10 years, the latest brush with outside-the-pool trouble for one of the nation’s most successful and recognizable athletes. Phelps posted on his social media accounts Sunday he would be entering a program that will “provide the help I need to better understand myself,” taking a break from swimming and, at least for now, a presumptive comeback nearly two years before the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. “The past few days have been extremely difficult. I recognize that this is not my first lapse in judgment, and I am extremely disappointed with myself,” he said in the statement released on his official Twitter and Facebook pages and also e-mailed to reporters by his agency, Octagon. The e-mailed release said Phelps would enter a six-week, in-patient program that would “help him focus on all of his life experiences and identify areas of need for long-term personal growth and development.” The statement did not specify whether Phelps would receive treatment for alcohol abuse. But Jon Urbanchek, the former longtime University of Michigan swimming coach who worked with Phelps in Ann Arbor, indicated alcohol would be a point of emphasis. Urbanchek, who said he was alerted Saturday of Phelps’s plans, said he understood the decision to seek assistance was the swimmer’s own. He added that Phelps would be at a facility in Arizona. “This is a huge step for Michael,” Urbanchek said by telephone Sunday afternoon, “because the first step is recognizing you need help. And he’s the kind of tough athlete who has never really asked for help. It’s a great step, the right call.” Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, was arrested in November 2004 and charged with DUI after he ran a stop sign in Salisbury, Md. He attributed it to his youth — he was 19 at the time — and for the first time placed his wholesome, all-American image in jeopardy, even after winning six gold medals about two months earlier in Athens. “You forget that he’s 19,” Phelps’s coach, Bob Bowman, was quoted as saying by USA Today at the time, “and he’s just trying to grow up.” Phelps, who was sentenced to probation after the 2004 arrest, moved from his native Baltimore, where he had become a young star at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, to Ann Arbor shortly after Bowman was named as Urbanchek’s replacement. It was there, Urbanchek said, that those around Phelps began noticing potential signs of trouble — which at the time could be written off as a young superstar testing boundaries. “When you’re a freshman in college, you don’t know if you’re really having a problem or just going with the flow,” the retired coach said. Four years later, shortly after the Beijing Games, Phelps was photographed smoking out of a bong. The images were published in British tabloids, further threatening his image, even after Phelps broke Mark Spitz’s Olympic record with eight gold medals. USA Swimming suspended Phelps for three months, and Kellogg’s did not renew its sponsorship. Other sponsors, such as Subway, stuck by the embattled young star, who vowed at the time he would not display such lapses in judgment in the future. Phelps was driving his 2014 Land Rover around 1:40 a.m. Tuesday when a police officer spotted the car speeding and followed it through the Fort McHenry Tunnel. Phelps was pulled over just beyond the toll plaza and failed several field sobriety tests, according to a statement released by the Maryland Transportation Authority. “I understand the severity of my actions and take full responsibility,” Phelps said in a statement following his arrest. “I know these words may not mean much right now, but I am deeply sorry to everyone I have let down.” Urbanchek said Sunday that immaturity was no longer a reasonable excuse. “It was inevitable that he needed some help,” the former coach said. “This has been going on for 10 years now. He has been able to get by, but he’s 29. He recognizes that, yes, this is more than I can handle and I need some help.” Phelps, who announced his retirement from competitive swimming after another memorable performance at the London Olympics in 2012, came out of retirement and began training again last fall. Neither he nor Bowman, who did not respond to messages Sunday seeking comment, have announced plans for Phelps to compete in the 2016 Games, though one more appearance in the Olympics seemed a probable goal for a swimmer with 22 medals on his resume. Urbanchek said he did not see Phelps’s decision to seek help, a little less than two years before the opening ceremonies in Rio, as a threat to his long-term plans. “He’s going to be back,” he said. “Michael came back with an unbelievable attitude toward Rio. This is just a detour, and we’re going to get through this. He’s got a lot of people helping him.” |