If you’ve been counting down the days to the arrival of Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps in Vancouver, you’re in for a big disappointment.

Phelps was slotted to speak at GM Place on March 6 for a motivational leadership event organized by Toronto-based promoter Power Within Inc., but was pulled from the line-up due to the recent controversy caused by surfaced pictures of him smoking a bong at a college party.

News of the schedule change was first reported on-line by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who wrote that e-mails were sent to people registered for the event notifying them that their favourite Olympian would not be in attendance.

According to a statement released by Power Within Inc., the change in programming was “due to widely publicized alleged use of marijuana by Michael Phelps.” Numerous calls made by the Straight to Power Within Inc. were not returned.

Phelps, who won an unprecedented eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, apologized for the photos and his drug use and has subsequently been suspended from competitive swimming for three months. He was also dropped as a spokesperson for Kellogs.

According to the Globe and Mail, mere days after the pictures of Phelps surfaced, Power Within founder Salim Khoja told a local newspaper that they were standing behind Phelp’s scheduled appearance. “We're not changing our position on it,” Khoja was reported as saying.

General admission tickets for the event are $169 and nonrefundable.