Michael Phelps banned six months, no 2015 worlds

[Zorro]

Source: AFP

Michael Phelps, the 18-time Olympic swim champion arrested last week for drink driving, was banned for six months by USA Swimming and dropped from the 2015 World Championships.

Monday's punishments came six days after Phelps was apprehended by police in his hometown of Baltimore and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, excessive speed and crossing the center line while driving inside a tunnel.

On Sunday, Phelps said on Twitter that he would be taking a break from swimming and "take some time away to attend a program" for treatment of unspecified personal issues.

In announcing sanctions against the Olympic superstar, USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus said Phelps' actions required "significant consequences."

Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/michael-phelps-banned-six-months-no-2015-worlds-210655397--spt.html

[yeoman6987]

1. Not enough

This is number 2. Should be a lifetime ban. Sorry but one mistake forgivable, but the same crime twice? He should get jail time too. Four years sounds about right.

[Warpy]

2. I'm not that punitive, not even out here where drunks on the road are spectacular

I'd say 6 month suspension plus traffic school for the first (this is a college town, after all); confiscate the car for the second plus a choice between jail time or an inpatient program.
Third time should net a long prison sentence.

We have people here with double digit offenses, people with breathalyzer ignition interlocks that they con other people into blowing into so the car will start. Only things that will turn them into pedestrians are taking their cars away followed by long prison terms.

[yeoman6987]

3. Double digits? Wow!

I have managed to not have one after living 45 years. One thing I will say is that if the keep lowering the blood level it will not be surprising to see an increase in DUIs. Hopefully he gets the help he needs.

[Warpy]

5. Alcohol tells them they're Superman and they can do anything.

Most other drugs aren't like that and people who drive doped aren't nearly as dangerous as overconfident drunks.

They have to take it more seriously than they are now. Risking getting the car confiscated would cut down on the number of good buddies who'd lend them a car after the drunk's car got confiscated.

A third DUI would mean they're untreatable by normal means and prison would be the only answer. I know a lot of recovering drunks and addicts who have admitted that only being in prison and going to AA and NA meetings there could ever have gotten them clean and sober.

I hope Phelps isn't one of them but it's not looking good at this point.

[Psephos]

4. What's with the link of DUI with eligibility to swim competitively?

If he were a computer programmer should he be banned from writing code? If he were a union steward at an aircraft manufacturer, should he be banned from union activities, or from working on airframe assembly?

He should face the legal consequences of his actions, like the rest of us. No more, no less.

And as for your call for four years of jail...puritanism is alive and well these days on the left side of the divide, indeed.

Alcoholism is not responsive to draconian legal punishments. It's a medical problem and needs a medical approach, not one that's destructive to both him and to the society that will be deprived of his contributions and liable for his support. I am *no* fan of Phelps, but our medieval legal "remedies" for him and his kind are worse than stupid.

[yeoman6987]

7. We just went weeks talking about football

Players and how that is fair due to their position in society and someone from Walmart doing the same thing could go unpunished at work. Can't have it both ways.

[Psephos]

11. justice by design is blind to "position in society"

although many corruptions have tarnished that ideal

I feel strongly that justice is not a social judgment but a legal one. As soon as our laws become subordinate to emotion we no longer have a legal system. We instead have mob rule, or authoritarian rule, depending upon whose emotions hold sway.

[Lonusca]

10. USA Swimming determines the eligibility

for the National and World teams. He was also receiving a stipend for training. This is the best move for Swimming and for Phelps.

[Psephos]

12. Right - because they fear pressure from a public that thinks punishment is the answer.

What I originally posted remains quite a propos to this mob thirst for retribution, regardless of how it's prettied up.

The best move for Phelps is not coincident with the best move for Swimming, as you put it. Neither the legal system nor his finger-to-the-wind professional organization has constructive solutions, obviously. The man needs a medical answer, and a punishment mentality can't provide it.

I'm not arguing for Phelps per se here. Personally, I find him arrogant and spoiled.

[Lonusca]

14. Of course they feel pressure to do something

This is the face of USA Swimming. Welcome to the real world.

He is on the team. He is paid by the team. The team suspended him, and he is getting treatment. Don't see much "mob thirst" here. If anything it seems to be a good solution for each side.

I am a fan of Phelps swimming. Possibly the best athlete at a given individual sport ever. I'm also a former drinker. You did catch the part about him going to rehab for 6 weeks?

[olddad56]

6. Too bad it is up to courts to decide his legal punishment and not you. Four years? really?

I think that the Dui's were slightly over 10 years apart. Might be a good idea for him to go to rehab, but it wouldn't serve the public to lock him up for 4 years. You are being way too harsh.

[yeoman6987]

8. Maybe harsh.

However, 2 in 10 years is still quite a bit for a guy who could and should have a driver.

[Exultant Democracy]

9. They should take away his DL, who cares if they let the fool keep swiming.

[Psephos]

13. Bingo. n/t