Champions are not infallable and neither is Phelps

After training so hard and winning 8 Gold Medals at the Beijing Olympics, one can appreciate Michael Phelps taking some time out from the sport. It might be harder to appreciate why he would take time out from looking after his body and imbibe in some marijuana smoking. We may forgive Phelps for wanting to live a little after such the strict discipline of training and competition, but it is unfortunate that his experimentation with drugs found its way to media attention.
Phelps now faces a 3 month suspension from USA swimming which may not affect him much since he was having a break anyway. It may cause him to reflect on how he needs to live his life now that his every action might appear on the net or a newspaper somewhere in the world. I'm sure he didn't think about this when he aimed to be a superstar of the pool. Is there ever any preparation for the high media attention that such a performance creates?
It is a fact that with the medals, accolades and sponsorship dollars comes a responsibility - a responsibility the fans. Youngsters are vulnerable to the actions of their role models and cannot differentiate what actions are part of being a champion and what actions are not. To a young fan, the act of smoking marijuana becomes okay because Michael Phelps did it. Yes, it's a big responsibility to be a superstar athlete but consider that 'being a role model' is on the list of duties and Phelps has quietly accepted his reprimand.