US 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 told a House subcommittee on Tuesday night. The testimony by Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt followed revelations this spring that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned heart medication ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but were allowed by WADA to compete, the AP reports. Five of those swimmers went on to win medals, including three golds. Eleven of them are set to compete again in Paris.
Schmitt, a four-time gold medalist, was part of the US 800-meter freestyle relay team that finished a close second to China at the Tokyo Games. "We raced hard. We trained hard. We followed every protocol. We accepted our defeat with grace," Schmitt said. "Many of us will be haunted by this podium finish that may have been impacted by doping." Phelps expressed frustration that nothing had changed since he testified before the same subcommittee seven years ago about WADA's handling of Russian state-sponsored doping.
The global doping regulator accepted Chinese anti-doping officials' conclusion that the 23 athletes had ingested the banned substance through contaminated food at a hotel. Independent anti-doping experts have questioned that finding, with US Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart calling it "outrageous." "The banned drug, which is only available in pill form, somehow ended up in the kitchen of a hotel the swimmers were staying at," said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, adding that WADA "somehow concluded this explanation was plausible."
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