Phelps may face drug charge

A SOUTH CAROLINA county sheriff yesterday warned he will charge Michael Phelps with a crime if an investigation determines that the Olympic great smoked marijuana.

Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals at last summer’s Beijing Olympics, admitted to “regrettable” behaviour after a photograph showed the swimmer smoking from a marijuana pipe.

The controversial photo, published on Sunday in the News of the World, was taken while Phelps was at a party last November at the University of South Carolina. Sporting a backward baseball cap and a white T-shirt, Phelps was photographed inhaling from a large pipe.