Donato Sardella/ Getty Images Amanda Beard is coming to the defense of fellow Olympian Michael Phelps.
The 14-time gold medalist Phelps has been flooded with some lousy press lately for becoming not only a fixture in Las Vegas, but also for dating Sin City cocktail waitress Caroline "Caz" Pal.
Beard (left, with Phelps at a Speedo party in April) admits it's "definitely weird" to see Phelps becoming a celebrity tabloid star, but she thinks he should be cut some slack...
"A swimmer's life is extremely boring," Beard said at last night's opening of the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. "We swim and we're in the pool all day long. I know he trains his butt off, so I know it feels good for him to let loose and drink—and to have ladies underneath his arms. It's good for him."
Beard is confident that Phelps will rein it in once he starts training again: "He has a really, really, really intense coach who's very strict."
—Additional reporting by Dahvi Shira