Michael Phelps Talks About Marijuana Scandal on Today Show

On the Today show this morning, Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps, sat down and talked to host, Matt Lauer.  Phelps won a record-setting 8 gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games (he has 14 gold medals in total) and has lost several major endorsement deals after a photo of him smoking marijuana at a party surfaced on the internet.  He revealed that he only saw the picture one or two days before it was released to the public.

Phelps reiterated that this was a stupid mistake and said that he was just celebrating with some friends.  Lauer reminded Phelps that, back in 2004, he told the Today show host almost the exact same thing after he was arrested and charged with a DUI.  He said that when he told his mother about the situation, she was pretty upset but she didn’t scream or freak out (I am very surprised by that!). 

Phelps also said that he believes he can sustain the passion for swimming long enough to participate in the 2012 Olympic games. 

The rest of the interview will be aired on Dateline this Sunday.