Phelps on pot aftermath: 'By no means is it easy'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Olympic champion Michael Phelps says it has been difficult coping with the fallout from a photo of him smoking from a marijuana pipe. "It's something I am going to have to live with and something I'll have to grow from," Phelps told The Associated Press on Wednesday outside the pool where he trains. "I know with all of the mistakes I made, I learned from them and that is what I expect to do from this. By no means it is fun for me, by no means is it easy." It was the first time Phelps publicly addressed the photo since issuing an apology on Sunday after it surfaced in a British tabloid over the weekend. Wearing a black sweat suit and shaking off the remaining drops of water in his hair after a workout at the Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, Phelps said the most important thing for him was that he was back in the pool training.