Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt Tell Congress U.S. Athletes Have Lost Faith in Anti-Doping Regulators Ahead of Olympics

TIME

U.S. Olympic athletes have lost faith in the World Anti-Doping Agency to rid their sports of cheaters ahead of next month's Summer Games in Paris, two former gold medalists said Tuesday in prepared testimony before a House subcommittee.

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00:00My journey in the pool has taught me the values of hard work, dedication, and above all, fairness.

00:06It helped me overcome challenges like ADHD and taught me resilience and focus.

00:11However, the constant suspicion on doping eroded the mental state that took a lifetime to build.

00:17While competing at the highest levels, I witnessed firsthand the pervasive uncertainty and the

00:21suspicion surrounding doping, which significantly affected my confidence and that of my fellow

00:27athletes. The hardest part was seeing athletes achieve seemingly impossible feats,

00:32knowing the immense effort and sacrifices required to reach these heights cleanly. It

00:38was disheartening and demoralizing, causing pain and a profound sense of injustice. I outworked

00:44any single human on this planet, and that's a fact, and that's why I got the results that I got.

00:50And for me, I don't want kids growing up thinking that it's only doping and cheating where you're

00:57able to do these unfathomable things. Because people told me my whole entire life I would never

01:02amount to anything. I use that as motivation. In my career, I guess I won a couple gold medals,

01:08so it was a good career, and I had fun doing it. Like right now, people are just getting away with

01:11everything. You know, there are people who are still testing positive. They're still having the

01:15opportunity to compete internationally. Right. What? Not from the U.S. No, not from the U.S. No.

01:20Right. But from all over the world. And how is that possible? Right. Like, it just makes no sense.

01:25I'm one that, if somebody does test positive, I would like to see a lifetime ban cut and dry.

01:31There is no trust. And what we ask for is that trust for accountability and transparency.

01:39We don't have accountability, and we don't have transparency as we have not seen the full files.

01:45I'm grateful for this opportunity, and like all of us up here state that we just want fairness

01:53in sport. Like you say, we want fairness in sport. And sport has given me so many opportunities,

01:59and I hope that I can have children that are in sport that have opportunities and know that

02:05they're competing on a clean, fair playing field.

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