Years of doping allegations have devastated the mental health of famed Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, he told Congress on Tuesday. Now he believes that by doing just that, Chinese athletes are taking advantage of an unfair system.
“The constant suspicion of doping has seriously affected the mental state you have spent a lifetime building during competitions at the highest level,” Phelps said.
Phelps and swimmer Allison Schmidt testified before the House subcommittee on a doping case they are investigating involving Chinese swimmers ahead of the Paris Olympics in August.
The pair raided the international body tasked with ensuring athletes don’t use drugs to give themselves an unfair advantage before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Doping allegations have disrupted the mental health of famed Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, he told Congress on Tuesday, and he now believes Chinese athletes are taking advantage of an unfair system.
“As athletes, we can no longer blindly place our trust in the world of anti-doping agencies, an organization that has proven time and time again that it is unable or unwilling to consistently enforce its policies around the world,” Phelps said.
“We have to hold them accountable,” he continued.
With 28 medals to his name, Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time. Schmitt has won ten medals in four competitions. Neither he nor Schmitt will compete in Paris.
He said he took 150 drug tests in 2016, while some delegations from across the country took only 30 to 40.
The primetime hearing comes two months after the World Anti-Doping Agency found that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned drug found in heart medications, before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The drug helps with ‘heart efficiency’.
The revelation of the alleged cover-up was made by the German broadcaster ARD.
CHINADA, the Chinese anti-doping agency, claimed the swimmers were accidentally exposed due to contamination in a hotel and that they should not be held liable for the positive results.
In response, WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, said it had accepted Chinese officials’ decision to release the swimmers, claiming their food was contaminated.
But WADA has since said that due to Covid they were unable to conduct their own on-site investigation at the time.
“The continued suspicion of doping has deeply eroded the mental state that took a lifetime to build while competing at the highest level,” Phelps revealed.
Phelps and swimmer Allison Schmidt testified before the House subcommittee on a doping case the committee is investigating involving Chinese swimmers ahead of the Paris Olympics in August.
Athletes around the world remain skeptical — wondering why China didn’t disclose at the time that its swimmers had been exposed.
The US Anti-Doping Agency launched a scathing attack on the World Anti-Doping Agency following the latter’s claim on Monday that it would ‘do nothing differently’ in its handling of the case.
Two of the Chinese swimmers went on to win gold medals. Schmitt said her relay team won silver to China’s gold in the 800-meter freestyle relay at the Tokyo Olympics four years ago, by one-fourth of a second. Now they will never know whether those athletes should not have won because of doping.
‘We raced hard. We trained hard. We followed every protocol. We respected their performance and accepted our defeat,” Schmitt said. ‘But now that I know that the Chinese relay consisted of athletes who had not served a suspension, I look back on it with doubts. We may never know the truth and it will haunt many of us for years to come.”
Skepticism about WADA’s claim was twofold.
“Americans don’t like cheaters, and they don’t do that. They will not tolerate organizations that release cheaters,” said Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor, R-Florida.
“We need to know…is China paying WADA to look the other way?”
Energy and Commerce Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers noted that the U.S. gives WADA $3 million a year yet refuses to appear for the committee hearing.
Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, called WADA’s support of China “outrageous,” noting that China has paid $1.8 million more than the required contribution since 2018.
Tygart said at WADA that Russia and China will have “different rules” than the rest of the world.