Michael Phelps Says 3-Month Suspension Is Fair

Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps trains at the Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009, in Baltimore. USA Swimming suspended Michael Phelps for three months.

(AP Photo)

Michael Phelps says it's fair for USA Swimming to suspend him for three months, the latest fallout from a photo showing the Olympic great inhaling from a marijuana pipe. Phelps was back training at his regular pool Friday, a day after his suspension.

"It's not my decision. It's theirs," Phelps said of USA Swimming's decision. "I have nothing to say, but if that's they want to do, that's their choice. It's something that USA Swimming came up with. It's fair. Obviously, for a mistake you should get punished."

Phelps won a record eight gold medals in Beijing and returned to America as one of the world's most acclaimed athletes. He made headlines of a different kind, however, in the wake of the photo, published Sunday by News of the World, a British tabloid.

"It was bad and stupid judgment, and something I'll always live with," Phelps said, minutes before diving into the pool at the Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, where he has trained since he was 7.

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Although the fallout cost Phelps his Kellogg Co. sponsorship, Subway announced Friday it still supports him.

"Like most Americans, and like Michael Phelps himself, we were disappointed in his behavior," the statement said. "Also like most Americans, we accept his apology. Moving forward, he remains in our plans."

The fallout from the picture has been much greater than in 2004, when an underage Phelps was arrested for drunken driving three months after the Athens Olympics. He pleaded guilty and apologized to his fans, saying he wouldn't make the same mistake.

Phelps wasn't sure how the negative publicity might influence his decision to compete in the 2012 London Olympics.

"I'm taking it step by step, day by day. There's still a long way between now and then," he said. "But I'm back here, I'm training for who knows what yet. But I'm back in the water, doing the thing I love."

That's a welcome diversion from the attention he's getting outside the pool.

"From waking up to megaphones outside your house at 7:30 in the morning to still photographers out there every day for the last four days from 7:30 to when I left for a workout, I can just do what's normal for me," he said. "And right now that's me coming to the pool every day."