American swimmer Michael Phelps, winner of 18 Olympic gold medals and arguably one of the greatest athletes of all time, has been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) in Baltimore, Maryland.
What makes this more interesting is that he’d just left the Horseshoe Casino after a long gambling session that lasted from 17:00 on Monday, 29 September until 1:00 on Tuesday morning. Phelps broke one of the cardinal rules of serious gambling, which is don’t get drunk and start betting. After a few too many drinks, he decided it would be a good idea to head home.
He was caught on radar doing 84 mph (135 km/h) in a 45 mph (72 km/h) zone. He also crossed solid double lines while going through the Fort McHenry tunnel in Baltimore. Police stopped him and asked him to prove he wasn’t drunk, but found that he was “unable to perform satisfactorily a series of standard field sobriety tests.”
One point in his favor is that he cooperated with police the whole way through the process, and also took to Twitter to apologize for his behavior. How he will be punished is yet to be determined, though, but he was fined $250 and given a suspended sentence for a similar offense 10 years ago, in 2004.
With some luck, though, this great athlete will have learned 2 important lessons. Number 1, don’t drink and drive. But more importantly, number 2, don’t drink and gamble. It’s just not worth it.