American already legendary swimmer Michael Phelps has been suspended for three months from competition after a photograph of him smoking from a pipe that appeared to contain marijuana was made public by a British tabloid.

The suspension was imposed by the USA Swimming which is the swimming governing body in the U.S. However; the USA Swimming said that despite the fact that Phelps did not violate any anti-doping rule the federation suspended him in order to send a strong message to the swimmer.

Michael Phelps, who won a record 8 Olympic gold medals last year in Beijing and a total of 14 Olympic gold medals, was photographed holding a pipe that is usually used to smoke marijuana. This happened at a college party in South Carolina three months ago. The swimmer acknowledged the authenticity of the photo, but did not say whether he smoked marijuana or not.

The USA Swimming also withdrew the financial support for Phelps for the duration of the ban.

“We decided to send a strong message to Michael because he disappointed so many people,” USA Swimming wrote on its Web site. Phelps also lost the sponsorship agreement with Kellogg Co., the world’s largest cereal maker.

Other big brands such as Speedo International Ltd, Omega, a Swatch Group AG watch brand, said they won’t end their sponsorship deals with the 23-year-old swimmer.

“He feels bad he let anyone down,” said Phelps agency (Octagon) in an e-mail release. “He intends to work hard to regain everyone’s trust.”