A Canadian snowboarder who nearly lost his Olympic gold medal in a marijuana controversy has come to the defence of US Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps.
The New World Times published a photo of Phelps allegedly smoking cannabis at a party at the University of South Carolina but Ross Rebagliati says the public and media need to put the incident in context.
The Canadian says people who are attacking the swimmer's conduct should not forget how hard Phelps had to train to win his record number of Olympic medals.
