Having already accomplished virtually everything that there is to accomplish at the individual level, Michael Phelps is now trying to use his platform to bring some much-needed reform to the sport of swimming.
Phelps, who won five gold medals at the Rio Games to bring his record career Olympic total to 23, spoke with reporters on Sunday and took the opportunity to call for harsher doping penalties in swimming.
“[Dopers] should pay a price,” Phelps said per Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports. “Somebody needs to step up.”
For the 31-year-old Phelps, who competed in five Olympics and became the most decorated Olympian of all-time while never failing a drug test in his career, his word carries a lot of weight. With other notable swimmers like fellow American Lilly King calling for doping reform as well, hopefully this helps mount the public pressure to clean up the sport once and for all.
