Written by Kimberly Cannon, Staff Writer

Phelps has had a few scandals during his 16 yearlong swimming career, but his accomplishments have outshined those scandals. Phelps has made mistakes, but during competition he followed the rules, unlike some of his fellow USA Olympic athletes. Phelps’s popularity is why most people know about his past marijuana use, not because he is truly a “pot-head” or a bad influence.

In 2009, a photograph of Michael Phelps surfaced that showed him smoking a marijuana pipe. This led to public criticism, and some renounced Phelps as a role model.

There are a few reasons to disagree with that negative outlook on Phelps. Instead of promoting drug use in any way, Phelps has pushed for stricter drug testing of athletes at the 2016 Rio Olympics, reported BBC sports editor Dan Roan.

According to the new guidelines established by the World Anti-Doping Organization in 2013, Phelps was not in violation of any rule, and so his 28 Olympic medals are to be respected.

The World Anti-Doping Organization’s list of prohibited substances bans the use of marijuana by athletes in-competition but not at all times, so Phelps’s use of marijuana didn’t warrant the confiscation of his Olympic medals.

As of the 2016 Olympics, the amount of marijuana, or THC levels, allowed in an Olympic athlete’s system increased tenfold from the previous amount allowed, reported Eric Kiefer of Montclair Patch.

All of this is not to say that Phelps habitually smokes marijuana before competing, rather than if he did make that decision that he wouldn’t be guilty of breaking the anti-doping guidelines.

Regardless of one’s opinion towards the recreational use of marijuana, Phelps has not been found to be under the influence of performance-enhancing drugs nor marijuana during Olympic competitions, and so his medals and swimming ability have no reason to be attacked.

Following the 2008 marijuana scandal, Phelps was issued a DUI in 2014 and was punished by USA Swimming yet again, but Phelps sought to better himself after this incident and attended a type of self-improvement program, reported Steve Almasy of CNN.

Phelps has made some mistakes, but he is not the only Olympic athlete guilty of a scandal.

U.S. Olympic sprinter Justin Gatlin and Marion Jones failed drug tests in 2006, and Tyson Gay failed a drug test in 2014 and had to return his medal from the 2012 Olympics, reported Kale Havervold of The Sportster.

Phelps’s actions were far less damaging to his athletic credibility than those of Gatlin, Jones, and Gay, yet Phelps’s story is the one better known by the general public. The cause for this is likely Phelps’s flourishing Olympic swimming career, which causes his scandals to stick out all the more in contrast.

Phelps does not have a perfect past, but it is a hard task to keep a reputation perfect for 16 years.