The House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations is holding a hearing on Tuesday focused on the anti-doping system ahead of the Paris Olympics next month.
Among the confirmed witnesses are 23-time Olympic champion Michael Phelps, 10-time Olympic medalist Allison Schmitt, and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart. World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Witold Banka was also invited, but his attendance has not been confirmed.
Last month, Katie Ledecky said her faith in the Olympic anti-doping system was at an “all-time low” following reports in April that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) seven months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. They were never provisionally banned, and three (Zhang Yufei, Wang Shun, and Yang Junxuan) went on to win Olympic gold medals in Tokyo after their positive tests were chalked up to contamination from their hotel kitchen.
“Olympic athletes dedicate years of their lives to perfect their craft in order to represent the United States on the world stage,” House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) said in a joint statement. “They—as well as athletes from every other country—deserve to compete on a level playing field that’s free of banned performance enhancing drugs. The World Anti-Doping Agency, the governing body responsible for enforcing fair standards, has a questionable track record of fulfilling that mission. This hearing will give Members a chance to examine that track record, identify opportunities for improvement, and ensure that the best athletes are the ones taking home gold medals.”
Banka was also invited to a hearing before the Sports Committee of the German Bundestag in late May, but he declined due to prior commitments.
“(Allegations of) mass doping of Chinese swimmers and a deliberate cover-up by WADA are entirely false,” Banka wrote to the German Bundestag last month. “The analytical results in these cases were simply not compatible with doping.”
A separate House committee on China called last month for the Department of Justice to investigate WADA’s handling of the 2021 Chinese doping controversy.
In April, WADA appointed a Swiss prosecutor to review the case after catching criticism from the White House, USADA, and international swimming federations. Findings are expected to be released right before the Paris Olympics next month. Among the main questions is why the Chinese swimmers were not provisionally suspended after testing positive for TMZ.
The U.S. is a major contributor to WADA, funding almost $3 million of the organization’s $43.4 million budget in 2021. Half of WADA’s funding came from the International Olympic Committee.
