“I Hurt So Many People”: 23-Times Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps Once Reflected Upon ‘Stupid Mistakes’ He Made During His Career

Michael Phelps, a sportsperson above excellence, made swimming a coveted sport to pursue as a profession. The 28-time Olympic medalist showed his grit and unmatchable swimming excellence throughout his career. As a person of brutal honesty, he took every challenge or mistake in the right spirit and conquered it. However, he made a mistake back in the day that cost him big time.

Phelps is renowned for his elite swimming skills. However, a casual act of his turned out to be a huge blow to his name. Whenever he was asked about it, he never refused to accept what a blunder it was.

Michael Phelps made a terrible mistake

In January 2009, Phelps was at a house party at the University of South Carolina. In an interview, he said that it was a tiny group with six or seven people and only two or three he didn’t know. It was like a house party, and they were sitting and celebrating. 

What was supposed to be a great memory with his few friends and a few strangers turned out to be a nightmare that would haunt him even after years. He was photographed smoking from a bong and the picture spread like wildfire. This event was a huge blow to his image after his historic Olympic win in 2008. 

He regretted what had happened and admitted that the people he hurt were his family, clearly, his friends, close people around him, and most importantly, the fans. He said, “And I realize that that hurt a lot of people.” 

READ MORE: “Barely Emerging from My Coma”: Michael Phelps Opened Up on Not Being a Hyperactive Child in His Biography

Furthermore, when asked how much, in his opinion, the photograph could damage his career, he said, “The contract side of things, yeah, I was disappointed. But I think the biggest thing is who I hurt the most. Like, if I lost money, OK. It’s not an issue with me.” 

Lesson learned

After years of relentless effort to accomplish the feat of winning eight gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he went to the States to take a break from swimming for a few months. 

In an unfortunate turn of events, the “Baltimore Bullet” faced backlash and strong criticism for his behavior at the party as captured in the photograph. He said that the biggest lesson he learned was about the nature of celebrity in America.

“I’ve come to realize people want to bring you up, but more people want to bring you down,” he told the interviewer. He said that it was something to keep in mind and close at heart.

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Also, when asked if he was aware that anyone took a photo that night, he said, “Is that, maybe, a lesson to be learned here? That not everybody’s your friend?”

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