Phelps gets his fins back

via popten.net

The golden Olympian is back in the water after a 5 month probation. And Michael Phelps is speaking out, despite the media scrutiny surrounding the tabloid photo of him smoking a bong. The 23-year-old swimmer was interviewed on Thursday in his hometown of Baltimore for his first television interview since the photo surfaced.

Phelps said he was angry by the way the tabloids portrayed the incident, but more upset about who was hurt by the image—mainly his mother and his young fans. “For me I feel my duty is to try to help other people not make this mistake,” Phelps told TODAY’s Matt Lauer.

He says that this incident and the DUI he got in 2004 are two mistakes he has made in his life that he regrets. But he says that he hopes young people will see him as a human who is not above making mistakes. “If you do make a bad judgment or you make a mistake make sure you are responsible for it because that is how you are going to change and how you are going to learn.”

The interview ended on a somber note on fallen heroes. Phelps was asked about the media’s obsession with watching superstar athletes fall like Arod who was tested positive for steroids last month.

“I have come to realize that people want to bring you up but more people want to bring you down,” Phelps said regarding the media attention around the dropped Kellogg's contract with Phelps--the only sponsor to not renew a contract with the Olympian.

But CGG wants to know what Michael Phelps thinks of this: two weeks ago Kellogg's donated 2 tons of cereal boxes with the Olympian's photo to the San Francisco Food Bank. One person’s dropped contract is another person’s breakfast!

Do we put too much pressure on our heroes? Do we want to see them fall? Or are we being to generous in allowing them to apologize and bounce back? Comment below!

By CGG reporter, Caroline Kotter