Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps was given a one-year suspended sentence and 18 months probation Friday after pleading guilty to drunk driving and speeding.
Phelps -- the most decorated Olympian of all time -- was also ordered by Maryland district court judge Nathan Braverman to continue receiving treatment for alcoholism after the September incident.
While on probation, he cannot touch alcohol before driving -- but he can leave the United States to train and compete, so long as he keeps up his treatment program.
Wearing a dark suit and glasses, the tall, lanky 29-year-old Phelps recalled how he checked himself into intensive rehab immediately after his September 30 arrest.
"During the 45-day program, I was able to find out a lot about myself that I never knew before," he said, adding that he now had the "tools" to go forward.
"I'm looking at a much better future than I have had in the past," he told Braverman, as his mother, two sisters and Baltimore Ravens star Ray Lewis looked on.
Phelps is now attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, as well as regular post-rehab sessions at a clinic in suburban Baltimore, his lawyer Steven Allen said.
Braverman -- for whom Phelps was a celebrity exception to a morning otherwise filled with dozens of routine traffic offenses -- hoped Phelps had turned a corner.
"I'm optimistic we won't have this conversation again," he said, recalling how Phelps got probation for a similar drunk-driving offense a decade ago.
Police say Phelps' white Land Rover was doing 84 miles (135 kilometers) per hour in a 45 mph zone in Baltimore's Fort McHenry Tunnel early on the morning of September 30, as he was driving from the city's Horseshoe casino.
He was suspended from competition for six months -- although Allen mentioned in court that Phelps in is training for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time with 18 golds out of 22 total medals.
Source: AFP