Michael Phelps Louis Vuitton Ad: Swimmer Could be Stripped of Olympic Medals

Leaked photos of Olympic gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps posing for Louis Vuitton hit the web earlier in August, and Phelps may get in big trouble with the International Olympic Committee because of it.

There are two leaked Louis Vuitton ads, taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz - one pictures Phelps lounging in a bath tub and the other shows him chatting with a woman on an elegant sofa, decked out in a classy suit. The photos were not meant to hit the public until Aug. 16, but somehow they were leaked on the second Tuesday of the Olympic Games.

The reason Louis Vuitton wished to release Phelps' shots on Aug. 16 was to comply with the standing International Olympic Committee rule that states athletes can't promote any non-Olympic sponsors during a specific time period before and after the Olympic Games, a campaign set in place to discourage ambush marketing. For the 2012 London Olympics, this rule was effective from July 18-August 15.

Known as Rule 40, it states, "A competitor or a team may lose the benefit of any ranking obtained in relation to other events at the Olympic Games at which he or it was disqualified or excluded; in such case the medals and diplomas won by him or it shall be returned to the IOC."

So in layman's terms, there's a possibility that Phelps has a chance of being stripped of his 2012 London medals (for those of you keeping count, that's six medals, four being gold).

The likelihood of such a thing happening is very slim, since both Louis Vuitton and Phelps deny personally releasing the photos. Surely no harm was meant by the French luxury fashion company towards the IOC. Looks like the matter hasn't caused great controversy yet, so hopefully Phelps gets to keep his hard earned, recording breaking awards.