On Jan. 31, 2009, a photo taken on Nov. 5, 2008 of Michael Phelps smoking a bong at a party in Columbia, South Carolina appeared in several tabloids and spread like a wildfire through the media. Phelps was quick to call his use of marijuana "bad judgement" and a "mistake."
He was suspended for three months by USA Swimming and lost his Kellogg's sponsorship. However, Phelps never failed a drug test.
He's since gone through rehab for alcohol abuse after his second DUI in 2014, so it's probably fair to say Phelps has put the bong down.
Olympic Records
Phelps won a total of 28 Olympic medals – 23 of them gold – starting in 2004. At the Rio Olympics in 2016, he earned five more gold in the following events:
• men's 4x200m freestyle relay
• men's 4x100m freestyle relay
• men's 200m butterfly
• men's 200m individual medley
• men's 4x100 medley relay
