Bearing flag brings greater responsibility
The selection of Michael Phelps to be the USA’s flag bearer in Friday’s Olympic opening ceremony is a testimony to great triumph and hopeful redemption.
Phelps, who at 31 is competing in his fifth consecutive Summer Games, is the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals, 18 of them gold. That, alone, makes him a fitting choice to lead in the U.S. team.
He also has been a tireless supporter of more stringent drug testing, personally volunteering for more scrutiny from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency over the past decade. Consider the contrast as you watch the tainted and entirely untrustworthy Russian delegation enter Maracana Stadium Friday night.
But Phelps does not arrive at this moment without controversy.
In 2004, months after the Athens Olympics, he was arrested at age 19 for driving under the influence of alcohol, pleading guilty.
In 2009, months after the Beijing Olympics, a photograph of Phelps smoking from a water pipe went viral, resulting in a three-month suspension. He was 23.
In 2014, two years after the London Olympics, he was arrested again, this time for driving under the influence, speeding and changing lanes in a Baltimore tunnel. He was lucky he didn’t kill himself, or someone else. This time, he was 29.
He pleaded guilty, was suspended for six months, was not allowed to represent the USA at the 2015 world championships and checked himself into rehab.
He and his fiancée now have a son, and he has said he is not drinking. He will compete in up to five events at these Olympics, and will be favored to win a medal in each one.
But his history shows us that his performance in the pool is only one part of his story and his legacy. What happens after the Olympics is telling as well.
So far, after three consecutive Olympic Games, Phelps has followed great success with appalling misjudgment, if not outright failure.
Phelps was always going to be watched closely after these Olympic Games. The scrutiny only becomes more intense with this great honor.