During a June 25 congressional hearing, several lawmakers called for the U.S. to withhold funding to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) until the organization has proven to be more transparent and responsible.
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing to examine anti-doping measures before the 2024 Summer Olympics after news broke out that WADA allowed China to brush off 28 positive tests for Temozolomide (TMZ) on 23 swimmers nine months before the 2021 Olympics; deciding not to inform the public about the incident or ban the swimmers from competing. WADA has refused to publicly release the evidence in the China file for individuals to review.
At the end of the hearing, lawmakers called for the U.S. to withhold funding to WADA until it agrees to an audit.
“As athletes, our faith can no longer be placed in the World Anti-Doping Agency, an organization that continues to prove that it is either incapable or unwilling to enforce its policies consistently around the world,” former olympian Michael Phelps said during his testimony.
During the hearing, former Olympians Micheal Phelps and Allison Schmidt testified against the ethics of doping and the negative impact it has on sports and athletes' mental health. Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, also testified, providing hard evidence of WADA’s wrongful actions. All three testifiers spoke out in the hopes of convincing lawmakers to change the doping system. WADA’s president, Witold Banka, was also invited to testify before the subcommittee but decided not to appear.
“Their refusal to appear today calls into question their commitment to accountability,” Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) said at the start of the hearing. “And perhaps if they’re not going to do the job, we shouldn’t even fund them.”
WADA released a statement on June 25 stating the organization believed it was "inappropriate" for the U.S. to invite them to the Congressional Hearing because the U.S. was pulling them into a "political debate" regarding a "case from a different country." WAGA also said it knows about the tension between China and the U.S. and has "no mandate to be part of that."
WADA statement regarding congressional hearing in the United States. Read it here: https://t.co/mGV1cAMNMF
— WADA (@wada_ama) June 26, 2024
Tygart said WADA failed to uphold fairness and integrity, and the U.S. needs to take action to ensure WADA is held accountable and does its job. Tygart added that without any change, WADA can not be trusted. The organization has a record of covering up positive doping tests, such as the 2017 Russian doping scheme, and has no intention of telling the public. Fortunately, whistleblowers have exposed WADA in the media.
“Now, thanks again to courageous whistleblowers in the media, we all know that on the eve of the 2021 Olympic games, WADA allowed China to disregard the rules and bury 28 positive tests,” Tygart said.
Collectively, the 23 swimmers who tested positive for TMZ won several medals at the Olympics, including three golds. Eleven of those swimmers are on the 2024 Olympic Chinese team.
Tonight, 28-time gold medalist @MichaelPhelps is testifying before Congress on anti-doping measures ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
— Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (@committeeonccp) June 25, 2024
In 2021, 23 Chinese swimmers cheated, testing positive for a prohibited substance.
Now, 11 of those same swimmers are slated to join the Paris… pic.twitter.com/jMLkFjl4Vf
Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Co.) and Tygart also speculate that WADA is accepting bribes from China.
“I also found out that in 2018 and 2019, coincidentally, China paid WADA nearly $2 million more than their required annual due payments,” DeGette said to Tygart. “That was right before these doping investigations.”
Tygart responded to DeGette saying he did not have “evidence” proving China was paying WADA to stay quiet, but $500,000 of China’s extra donated money was “earmarked to investigations.” Yet, WADA still has not “opened an investigation into these cases.”
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) asked Phelps and Schmidt how athletes can hide a positive test result. Neither athlete could give an answer; I'm not sure how an athlete can falsely claim a negative result. Tygart, however, said it is not the athletes who mask a negative result but WADA, which has "turned a blind eye" to China and Russia allowing it. WADA has the right to appeal when anti-doping agencies fail to impose mandatory suspension for positive test results.
"Russia and China have been too big to fail in their [WADA] eyes, and they get a different set of rules than the rest of the world does," Tygart said.
Schmidt said that clean athletes have no trust in an organization that ignores doping test results.
"What we ask for is that trust and accountability and transparency," Schmidt said. "We don't have accountability and we don't have transparency as we have not seen the full files."