Source: CRI
05-07-2009 09:50
Michael Phelps' three-month suspension from competition is over and he marked the occasion like any other day: He woke up late and headed to the pool.
Phelps said he didn't even realize his suspension ended on Tuesday. Coach Bob Bowman couldn't resist making a joke, saying he planned to enter his star swimmer in a meet later that night.
"I had no idea," Phelps said of his ban, which was doled out by USA Swimming after a picture surfaced in a London tabloid showing him inhaling from a marijuana pipe.
He'll return to competition next week at Charlotte, North Carolina. It will be his first time swimming competitively since winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.
"I'm happy to be back in the water and be back in semi-shape," said Phelps, who's lost almost 20 pounds (nine kilograms) in the last two months. "I'm sort of getting back into racing shape and getting ready to race my first race since Beijing. We'll see how it goes.
"I'm happy to have some structure back in my life," he added.
Phelps said he considered retiring after the picture surfaced. After all, he'd already broken Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record of seven gold medals in one Games and became the most successful Olympian ever with 14 golds.
