IOC president Jacques Rogge said yesterday that Michael Phelps failed in his "duty" as a role model but deserves a second chance after being photographed with a marijuana pipe.

Rogge said the American swimmer's apology and promise not to do it again gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Phelps won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. He was suspended by the US Swimming Federation for three months after a British newspaper published the photo of Phelps holding the pipe at a party in South Carolina.

Rogge said Phelps was not guilty of a doping offence because the incident occurred outside competition but warned, "This is not something he should repeat."

Rogge acknowledged, though, that Phelps has to dig himself out of a deep hole.

"Michael Phelps had a duty to be a role model. It is not just enough to win eight medals," he said. "He has a role to play for youth. He has to be an example. He failed in that."

The Olympian found out this week that he won't face drug charges after a South Carolina sheriff said there wasn't enough physical evidence to charge the 14-time gold medalist.

"It's a mistake I won't make again," Phelps said in the statement.

"I tend to believe he will not do it," Rogge said yesterday at the opening of an IOC liaison office with the European Union. "We have to give him a second chance."

It was not the first embarrassing episode for Phelps after an Olympic triumph.