Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps appeared before Congress Tuesday to urge it to act against doping in Olympic sports.
Earlier this year, a report in The New York Times revealed that 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance were allowed to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. The incident was hidden from the public after a deal between Chinese officials and the World Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees drug testing, according to the report.
During an appearance before the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that was called with the Paris Olympics a month away, Phelps said WADA failed to clean up sports.
Noting that he had testified before Congress in 2017, he said, “It is incredulous for me to find myself here again today, in front of the very same Committee, for the very same reason,” seven years later.
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“In fact, if you read my testimony from 2017, every word would still ring true. Sitting here once again, it is clear to me that any attempts of reform at WADA have fallen short, and there are still deeply rooted systemic problems that prove to be detrimental to the integrity of international sports and athletes’ rights to fair competition, time and time again,” he said.
“For the well-being of athletes, it is crucial that we take the necessary steps to address these issues. I urge Congress to use its considerable leverage with WADA to make the organization independent and effective,” he said.
“It can’t reasonably be a coincidence that [WADA] has yet again succumbed to the pressures of international sport,” he said.
“Close friends were potentially impacted by [WADA’s] failure to follow its own rules in investigating the nearly two dozen positive tests on Chinese swimmers. Many of them will live with the ‘what ifs’ for the rest of their lives,” he said.
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“We need to hold them responsible,” Phelps said of WADA, according to CNN, adding that the agency should “almost be on a separate island by themselves.”
“As athletes, our faith can no longer be blindly placed in the World Anti-Doping Agency, an organization that continuously proves that it is either incapable or unwilling to enforce its policies consistently around the world,” Phelps said in his opening statement.
“If the international sports world continues to have its integrity impacted by failures at WADA, the next generation isn’t going to be able to have the same belief that I once had in the system,” he said.
“So, with that, I urge you, the members of Congress, to engage in the fight against doping. We can uphold the values of fairness and integrity that are the cornerstone of Olympic and Paralympic sports. Let us work together to ensure that every athlete, regardless of where they are from, has the opportunity to compete fairly and achieve their dreams,” he said.
Over a third of China’s Paris Olympics swimming roster tied to doping scandal https://t.co/X4hMofVi2L
— TIME (@TIME) June 20, 2024
Panel chair Republican Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia suggested pulling America’s $4 million subsidy to WADA if it does not right itself, according to CNN.
“Their refusal to appear today calls into question their commitment to accountability. If they’re not going to do the job, we shouldn’t even fund them,” he said.
Michael Phelps warns doping mistrust could be end of the Olympics following Chinese swimming scandal https://t.co/C7o9pdZ9kz via @Yahoo the USSR and Russia drop their people so is China these communist countries should just be kicked out of the Games permanently
— Joseph Joyal (@joe_scuba) June 26, 2024
US Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart said WADA is too close to China.
“It’s the fox guarding the henhouse. When you have sport leaders who have an interest in the decision that they’re making, that can’t be an independent decision,” he said.
