Michael Phelps, the 14-time Olympic gold medallist who plunged into consumption of marijuana recently, said he needs months to decide if he's going to take part in the London Olympics in 2012.
According to the Baltimore Sun published on Tuesday, Phelps held a post-practice interview Monday outside the pool where he trains, saying "It will take a few months."
"I'll give it 30 or 60 days. I think it will be better. I'm already happier now than I was, just having some part of my life back to normal, being able to swim again, having fun, joking around," he added.
Phelps was banned for three months by USA Swimming on Thursday. The moves were the latest fallout from a photograph published in an English tabloid over the weekend showing the 23-year-old smoking a long glass pipe, or bong, associated with the consumption of marijuana. He apologized for a lapse in judgment and lost a sponsor in Kellogg Co.
The Olympic super star stressed that he is actually able to sleep now. "I had a real hard time sleeping over the last two weeks or so. Just swimming and thinking about everything going on. Everything is back to what I call normal, I guess," he said.
The Olympic super swimmer won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympic Games last summer, not only refreshing his compatriot Mark Spitz's record of taking seven golds in one Olympic Games (Munich 1972), but also setting the total record of gold taking by a single person (14) in the Olympic history.
(Xinhua News Agency Feburary 11, 2009)
