Could Michael Phelps lose one or more of his record breaking Olympic medals? He could if the Olympic committee chooses to enforce a new rule that he may have broken.
Phelps posed for a photo shoot with famed photographer Annie Leibovitz this year to coincide with his final competitions. But those photos were mysteriously leaked on the Internet late last week, violating the International Olympic Committee’s controversial Rule 40, which states athletes can’t promote any non-Olympic sponsors from July 18th to August 15th.
The punishment? It could range from fines to the stripping of medals.
The Leibovitz/Phelps campaign was set to begin on August 16th, in compliance with the IOC’s campaign against ambush marketing. But someone (no one knows who) jumped the gun and the photos went viral, showing up on a variety of websites on the second Tuesday of the Olympics, which is a no-no.
The now retired Phelps set a record this year by winning the most medals by any Olympian…ever! So it’s probably very safe to assume that the IOC will take the route of fining him, if anything, instead of stripping him of any of his precious medals.
