An abridged version of this story appears in the Nov. To subscribe, click here. For almost five days in the fall of , the most decorated Olympian in history lay curled in a fetal position in his Baltimore home, crestfallen and fearful, embarrassed at his behavior and uncertain of his future.
His swimming had been transformed by NBC into a nightly television miniseries, and millions watched as Phelps splashed to victories for America over the rest of the world. His family watched at poolside, supporting players in an emotional drama that was the paradigm of Olympic success and Olympic packaging. His life had been turned into a flat-screen American athletic dream: A skinny boy with big feet and ears had been transformed by endless laps and a wise coach into a red-white-and-blue, gold-medal-winning machine.
Imagine our relief when he announced last spring that he would swim in one more Olympics next summer in Rio de Janeiro, his fifth and surely his last? Yet this was just half the story. Phelps was also an adult approaching 30, whose reality was approximating the two-dimensional cardboard cutout on all those television screens. That skinny boy had failed to find the same traction on land that came so naturally in the water. He had never come to terms with the father who was divorced from his caring and supportive mother when Phelps was nine.
He had found a woman to love and lost her. He had welcomed far too many sudden friends and had embraced the perks of affluence and celebrity more than was healthy. Now that bubble was a prison of sorts. On the night of Monday, Sept. At a. He was charged with DUI, excessive speed and crossing double lane lines. Last December he pleaded guilty to a drunk driving charge. This arrest was much bigger, not just because it was the third incident in a decade, but because the speed and level of intoxication made it more dangerous and hinted at larger problems.
How terrible is the world going to be to my son? His father, Fred, who spent 28 years as a Maryland State Trooper before retiring from that position in , works in commercial vehicle enforcement training. Cops take care of cops. I felt so disappointed. Not take his own life, but something like the DUI, but worse. Phelps apologized in a public statement. Bowman was not there, but he also talked to Phelps on the phone.
