Transcripts For CSPAN2 Michael Phelps Testifies On Doping In International Sports 20170301

Stripped of his title for doping violations. Welcome to this hearing, the oversight investigations subcommittee, and the antidoping system. The subcommittee examines the current state of the system but challenge it faces in areas for reform. The summer games and really less then a year from the winter games, there is no better time to evaluate progress made thus far on the interNational Antidoping system. We are holding this hearing february 28th, we have the greatest living athlete of all time who has won 28 metals before his day. I was referring to you, mister griffin. I was referring to Michael Phelps. Every two years nations are filled with excitement and pride as they cheer their athlete in summer and winter games. A longstanding tradition that she not be tarnished by those who choose to cheat. I hope this helps highlight ways to strengthen clean competition and restore public confidence. And the Current System on individuals in promoting sport. And the world antidoping agencies. Senior leadership currently exists, antidoping decisionmakers simultaneously hold the policymaking position. Such conflicts have real and perceived effect on the rigorous investigations of possible violations with the enforcement of antidoping measures. And they stated that water lacks sufficient independence for sports itself. Recent proposal suggested removing Sports Organizations from governance structures to improve independence and operations. We want to evaluate those concerns and discuss the proposal forms. There needs to be an established decisionmaking process when it comes to investigation and sanctions. Leading to the summer games in rio, the buck was passed multiple times between the International Lipid committee, National Antidoping organizations and sports federations as to who was in charge of making decisions and whether athletes would participate in the summer games. And bandon athlete, coaches and antidoping laboratories very from shortterm to lifetime. We had a clear set of guidelines in the appropriate organizations setting and imposing penalties. We need to assure the system is fair, punishment is appropriate, particularly when the athletes knowingly cheated. The general public depends on the governing bodies of International Sports to assure cheating does not become the norm, this is a particularly Important Message for you. Additionally. Recent events highlight the need for potential improvements with respect to utilizing athletes as partners in the antidoping effort and whistleblower protection. There will always be athletes or institutions that dope in a gain for competitive advantage and athletes and whistleblowers are often times the first to see the problem at ground level, critical to the antidoping organizations ability to intensify organizations. Therefore it bears questioning whether the Current System does enough to embrace those fighting, many conferences and meetings occur in severe games, remains unclear. This provides an opportunity to learn from past mistakes that examine opportunities to move forward in a way that prove doping systems and that is effective, fair and nimble. And the integrity of international games. Congress is doing a hearing on sports rules, it is a matter of multibilliondollar sports economy. For the most part it is important we send the right message to the future athletes of the world. And we welcome our allstar panel of witnesses, your appearances before the subcommittee and have an honest discussion. The key decisionmakers, we are excited to have Michael Phelps and Mister Nelson sharing athletes perspective. These gentlemen have valuable insight into the problems and challenges that face the Current System as well as unique perspective on improvements that can be made which we thank our witnesses for appearing today and look forward to an informed discussion. And shaken the sporting world. And doping controls relied on by the Global Sports community. After unfortunate delays in investigating for courageous whistleblowers, the Antidoping Agencystigation. Just last month, for example, several National Antidoping organizations met in dublin and petitioned that russia be banned from hosting existing and future International Sporting events, until the country comes back into compliance with wadas recommendations. But what if anything will happen to those recommendations . I understand the ioc has created two commissions to explore the findings of wadas independent investigation. Well, i support due process when it comes to athletes possibly implicated in the investigations. I believe there is enough evidence reported in wadas investigations to warrant a strong message from the ioc. If you cheat, you do not play. Of course, wadas findings also raised concerns about wada itself. How did this cheating scheme persist for so long undetected, for example . Is wada organized to catch cheating Going Forward . Does it have sufficient resources to police sport and prevent such a conspiracy from happening again . Following the russian revelations, the number of antidoping organizations met in copenhagen late last year and put forth some recommendations that could enhance wadas ability to keep sports clean. These recommendations include addressing certain conflicts of interest within wada, and clarifying the agencys authority to investigate doping and sanction violators. It is unclear what has happened to these recommendations, but i do believe that they may be a possible blueprint in moving forward. I also believe we have to examine whether wada has the resources to do the job. As i said before, wadas entire budget is a mere 30 million. And the u. S. , which is the largest contributor, provides a mere 2 million. The mclaren investigation alone will cost 2 million. So clearly we need investigation into this. I want to welcome our witnesses, in particular our two athletes who are here, mr. Nelson and mr. Phelps. I think your perspective will really help us. I also think we should thank wada itself, including richard pound and richard mclaren, for their work. And especially want to commend mr. Tygart and usada for the tireless work in this investigation. It is an unfortunate set of events that forced us into this room today, but ultimately i think this panel, this when dealing with russia and its approach to ensuring Clean International competitions, the honor system is simply not going to be enough. I yield back. To be enough now recognize the chairman of the full committee for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to welcome all of our witnesses and our olympians. Thank you for being here to help us better understand whatsu for going on in this situation. For centuries, athletes,n. Cultures, nations have been brought together by the spirit of competition. Spirit of competition. From the slopes of olympus to the stands of oxen stadium, home of the oregon ducks, people from all walks of life have gathered to pursue and celebrate athletic achievement. We relish with anticipation the possibility of witnessing the impossible. We celebrate the thrill of victory and the agonize in defeat. Whether through your own pursuits or those of others, i suspect everyone in this room knows the emotion, collective experience and beauty of sport. Nothing embodies the spirit and potential of sport more than the Olympic Games. It is the hallmark of International Competition, uniting people from around the world, regardless of social, political or religious differences. In celebration of our greatest athletes, it envelops National Pride at the highest degree. There is a lot of truth to that message, but we also cannot be blind to reality. Athletes and nations compete to win. They do not invest countless hours training to lose. They sacrifice for success and their victories are rewarded. This is why for centuries athletes have sought performance enhancing substances to gain an advantage on the competition. Greek olympians and roman gladiators used herbs and wine and other products to get an edge on their opponents. The early 1900s, mixtures of heroin, cocaine and other substances became prevalent among athletes. Over time, following the introduction of antidoping testing of the olympics in the 1970s, the drugs have become more sophisticated and cheaters more creative. Despite improvements in global antidoping efforts at the turn of the century with the establishment of the world Antidoping Agency, wada, the fight for clean sport remains an uphill battle. The temptation to cheat will always be present to those looking for a short cut. Recent events, however, revealed a far more startling and a difficult challenge. Thanks to the courage, tenacity of whistleblowers, of journalists, and others, we were exposed to a level of deception and cheating that felt more look a movie script than reality of International Sport. It was not a case of individual athletes looking for an edge, this was a tale of nation states sponsored doping. Hundreds of athletes knowingly or unknowingly became part of a Widespread Campaign to enhance performance, alter test results, and evade detection by interNational Antidoping authorities. Despite the shocking allegations, later bolstered by a series of independent commissions and reports, the response from the respective governing bodies of International Sport has become a hodgepodge of indecisive and inconsistent actions. So what went wrong . It is one thing for an individual to beat the system, how could such a massive program go undetected for so long. What has the response been . It has been a quagmire. Clearly these events point to larger challenges in interNational Antidoping efforts. Thats why were here today. To learn from the past, in pursuit of a Better Future for clean sport. Well always be those who seek to gain an advantage, personal financial motivations are undeniable, the opportunities afforded by scientific innovation too tempting. The challenge is daunting and may never be totally solved. That is not an excuse for inaction. We can and must do better, even if that requires some difficult and frankly some uncomfortable reforms. Success in sport is not achieved sitting on the sideline. Waiting for others to act, it requires leadership, teamwork and most of all it requires dedication as our athletes have clearly shown. The millions of Clean Athletes around the world who push the limits of physical and mental exhaustion, who sacrifice so much, dont they deserve a similar commitment from those responsible for protecting the integrity of their sport . I believe they do. Thats why were here today from hear from all of you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time. I now recognize Frank Pallone of new jersey for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to begin by thanking our Witnesses Today for their ongoing commitment to the integrity of competitive sports. I especially want to thank our olympic athletes who have faced circumstances outside of their control when it comes to doping within their individual sport. I would like to single out Travis Tygart and the United States Antidoping Agency who fought for those athletes demanding drug free competition. In july of last year, several of us on the committee sent a letter to the president of the International Olympic committee expressing our strong interest in supporting efforts to ensure the integrity of sports. When we wrote that letter, the world Antidoping Agency had begun releasing some of its findings as to whether russia had engaged. Agencies responsible for policing sport had actually helped athletes dope, even the Russian Federal Security Service or fsb had played a role in this conspiracy according to wadas investigation. Upon the release of those findings, wada recommended to the International Olympic committee that it ban russia and russian athletes from participation in the 2016 rio games. However, the ioc delegated that decision to the International Sports federations organizations that may or may not have had the independence and resources to undertake such a task. And some critics believe the iocs lack of decisiveness affected the role and perceived authority of antidoping agencies. So even today it remains unclear that what sanctions the ioc and other sports related organizations can or will take, in response to wadas independent investigation. Collectively these organizations must take decisive action. They must send an unambiguous message they will punish doping and cheaters will no longer be rewarded for creating an unfair advantage over Clean Athletes. I think were at a crossroads now, mr. Chairman, how best to prevent and police doping in sport. Wadas independent investigation raises serious concerns about the agencies responsible for policing doping including the ability to sanction athletes, institutions, even countries that conspire to violate the world antidoping code. Despite these challenges, there are some hopeful signs of reforming the antidoping regulatory system. In particular, im encouraged by the recommendation made by a group of National Antidoping agency or nados that strengthen the role as a Global Regulator in the doping fight. The group wants to ensure that wada has the authority to investigate suspected doping violations. They also want to provide wada Additional Resources so it can develop better antidoping monitoring systems. The group of agencies also recommended removing conflicts of interest in wadas governing structure and developing a program to protect whistleblowers who may wish to bring doepg vping violations fo. We all care about the International Sport community, but the integrity of the International Community will continue to be questioned until an effective antidoping system is in place. So, again, i want to thank our witnesses for attending this hearing, so we can identify what actions are noded mo edneeded m forward to build a better antidoping system. And making real change to our antidoping institutions based on those findings is something we must do for the athletes and the integrity of International Sport. I ask unanimous consent that the members Opening Statements be introduced into the record. I would now like to introduce our allstar panel of witnesses. First, we welcome mr. Adam nelson, american shot putter and olympic gold medalist. Three time olympian and six time World Championship team member, mr. Nelson is currently the president of the track and field athletes association, many of us know mr. Nelson was never properly awarded his medal for his olympic achievements. Id like to take a moment to congratulate mr. Nelson on his olympic gold medal, xhened for pursuing his achievements in the spirit of clean and fair sport. It is a shame it had to happen in a food court at an airport. [ applause ] next, were honored to have with us today mr. Michael phelps, mr. Phelps the most decorated olympian of all time, winning 28 medals, including 23 gold medals over the course of five Olympic Games. Both during and after his olympic career, mr. Phelps has been a strong and outspoken advocate for clean sport. Next, we want to welcome mr. Travis tygart, chief executive officer for the United States Antidoping Agency. 15 years of experience working at usada, in various leadership roles, he works closely with the usada board of directors to carry out the Organizations Mission of preserving the integrity of competition, inspiring to sport and protecting the rights of u. S. Athletes. Now, we also welcome mr. Rob koehler, Deputy Director general of the world Antidoping Agency. He comes to us with almost two decades of experience working in the antidoping field at wada and the Canadian Center for ethics and sports. In his role as Deputy Director general at wada, mr. Koehler is responsible for the oversight of all u. S. Antidoping organizations and global antidoping education initiatives. Lastly, we welcome dr. Richard budgett, medical and scientific director for the International Olympic committee. In this capacity, dr. Budgett is responsible for ensuring that the organizing committees of each edition of the Olympic Games deliver excellent medical and doping control services, working closely with the world antidoping agencies. Thank you to all our witnesses for being here today and par taking in an informative and insightful discussion of this Important International issue. Youre all aware this committee in whole is holding an investigating hearing and has had the practice of taking testimony under oath. Do any of you object to giving testimony under oath . Seeing no objections, the chair advises you under the rules of the house and the committee, youre entitled to be advised by counsel. Do any of you desire to be advised by counsel during your testimony today . Seeing none, in that case, will you all rise, raise your right hand, ill swear you in. Do you swear the testimony youre about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth . Thank you. All the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. Youre now under oath and subject to the penalties set forth in title 18, section 1001 of the United States code. Call upon you each to give a five minute statement. This timer is not like in the games, mr. Nelson. Nothing bad will happen if it turns red on you. But we ask you to do five minutes. Mr. Nelson. Good morning, and thank you, mr. Chairman, and the members of the committee for hosting this event and hopefully supporting clean sport. As a 9yearold i remember watching athletes like Mary Lou Retton and edwin moses represent the United States of america in the 1984 Olympic Games. Their performances inspired a generation of childhood dreamers like me at least for a moment to imagine what it would be like to compete at the greatest stage on the world, culminating in an unforgettable medals ceremony accompanied by my flag and my National Anthem. 12 years later, i competed in my first olympic trials as a shot purter, finishing last in a effort that fueled the dream for four more years. Four more years has been a mantra for most of my adult life. The 2004 olympic shot put competition was contested in in greece, more than 20,000 spectators visited the competition venue for the first time in nearly 3,000 years. For 58 of 60 throws i led that competition, on the 59th throw, the athlete from the ukraine tied my best mark. As the leader going into the final rounds, i had the privilege to take the last and final throw of the competition. As a child, my imagination could have never dreamed of a moment quite like this. But these are the moments that make the olympics great. And i can remember everything about that moment. I remember the faces in the crowd. I remember the heat, the sun baking my skin, i remember the mixture of cheers and boos for one american athlete, as he was competing for the gold medal. These are the moments that change the trajectory of your life, and make the struggle worthwhile. When i stepped into the ring for the last and final throw of the competition, the world went quiet, i felt the coolness of the shot put touch my neck and felt a surge of adrenaline and watched as it sailed farther and farther than any other throw of the day. I raised my hands in sure victory, realizing that i had just won the olympic gold medal, only to look left and see the red flag raise indicating i fouled. I saw as another athlete started his victory lap, and listened as they played another National Anthem and raised another flag, celebrating him. And in his honor. For eight years i lived with that result, eight years later i received a phone call from a reporter informing me that five athletes tested positive in a retroactive drug testing from samples from 2004. The last eight years of my life had apparently been based on a falsehood. A month later the same reporter called me to inform me the ioc was meeting that day to discuss whether or not to vacate his position or reallocate the medals. While on that call, the news hit the wires and the reporter informed me i was now the olympic gold medalist. A year later i picked up my medal in the food court at the atlanta airport, came with a side of fries and a free toy, dont worry about it. It was an after thought. An official who could swing through atlanta on his way home. Nine years after the moment had passed, the color and timing of a medal matter, folks. Silver does not hold the same value and gold loses its shine over time. There is no small bit of irony of me winning a medal in this fashion. I was vocal about clean sport and often criticized by competitors or peers for my position. I was often told not to comment on the current state of ant antidoping or doping in sports for fear it would be a distraction. Doping in sports is seen by some as a distraction for the athletes, an obstacle for the sport of the business of sport. It is a stain on an otherwise beautiful set of ideals that we any as a spirit of olympism. As a result, we have a system that is interested in seeing progress, but not truly committed to achieving the outcome. My story illustrates only part of the damage caused by doping in sport, but im not here to invoke sympathy, sympathy is a thought, an emotion devoid of action, im here today to ask you all to give medal to give meaning to my medal. This medal here. Im here to ask for action on behalf of millions of dreamers like me who believe in fair play and aspire for gold medals to be won and celebrated in the moment after a clean and fair competition. Since 2012, ive become a student of International Sports organizations. Ive advocated for clean sports, spoken with athletes from around the world about this subject. Ive heard their voices, the voices of the Clean Athletes, they ask for more. But those voices continue to fall on deaf ears. So they resort to social media, they wag fingers. And they create a petition that has already garnered almost 500 athlete signatures in support of structural reform. Athletes want action. Not words. Structural reform is only part of the solution, i cannot change a culture strictly by changing policy. You have to engage the athletes. So i ask as an athlete, olympic gold medalist, and someone personally and financially impacted by doping and sport, that you consider Clean Athlete as a shared owner in this all important fight. We will stand with you as a partner. The time of the moment is now. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Phelps, youre recognized for five minutes. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, good morning. My name is Michael Phelps. Im a re tired professional wom wom swimmer and an olympician. It is a privilege to be here. I competed internationally for over 15 years and had the tremendous honor to represent the United States in five Olympic Games and six World Championships. Without question, many of my proudest moments have been representing my country in International Competition. There is no greater feeling than standing on top of the podium, watching the stars and stripes rise, as the National Anthem plays. The rio olympics were special for me because it gave me the opportunity to end my career on my terms. To do it with my wife nicole and son boomer watching. It is also unique because of increased doping concerns. I watched how this affected my teammates and fellow competitors. We all felt frustration. Looking back over my career, and knowing how difficult it is to get to the highest levels of sport, i cant help but wonder how the next generation of athletes will be able to do it, this uncertainty continues. As a child, i found school difficult, i had adhd, which probably contributed to my restlessness. Ill never forget being told by one of my teachers that i never would amount to anything. It was swimming that enabled me to see past the challenges and not be defined by them. My mom put my sisters and me in the pool so we would be water safe. At first, like many children, i was afraid to put my head under the water. By overcoming that fear, i got my first taste of selfconfidence. As it pushed out, i was pretty good in the water and i quickly realized the harder i worked, the quicker i improved. I found a focus and a purpose i had never felt before. I would set goals for myself and worked like crazy until i accomplished them. Dreams would pop into my head when i got into the pool. I would dream about becoming a gold medalist, world record holder, i wanted to be the best. I talked with my coach so we could come up with a plan, not just for what i was doing in the pool, but also how i could better myself away from the pool. I made up my mind to do everything i could to make my dream a reality. In school, i had friends, but i wasnt that social. I focused on swimming. At times i was made fun of for what i was doing because it was different. I was in love with challenging myself to become the best athlete that i could be. I felt that every single day was an opportunity for me to do Something Special when i went to the pool. I always felt that the kids who worked the hardest got the best results. Thats why i pushed myself as hard as i could. Over five year period, i trained every single day without a day off. I figured by training on holidays i would be able to get that extra edge. As a part of my hard work and as my hard work and sacrifice began to pay off, my confidence grew and i began to feel if i could dream something, and gave everything i had, that anything was possible. The strength of that belief drove me to set goals that others might have thought were unrealistic. Thats one amazing thing about competitive sport. It demands that you believe in yourself. This isnt always easy. There were so many times i could have quit and walked away. Sticking with it required me to dig deep, especially knowing that after all the work and sacrifice, success might be determined by just. 01. In those critical moments that you really test your commitment, and that can ultimately define your career, you need to believe that if you push on, youll get the opportunity to measure yourself, your preparation, your desire, your talent, against others who have prepared themselves in the same exact way. Throughout my career, ive thought that some athletes were cheating. And in some cases those suspicions were confirmed. Giving all the testing i and so many others have been through, i have a hard time understanding this. In addition to the test and competitions, i had to notify usada where i was every day. So they would be able to conduct random tests during outside of outside of competition. This whole process takes a toll. But it is absolutely worth it to keep the sport clean and fair. I cant describe how frustrating it is to see other athletes breakthrough performance barrier and all realistic time frames knowing what i had to do to go through that. I watched how this affected my teammates as well. Even the suspicion of doping is disillusioning for Clean Athletes. To believe in yourself through sport, you need to be able to believe in the system that safeguards clean sport and fair play. All athletes must be held to the same standards which need to be implemented and enforced with consistency and independence. For years now, i worked closely with kids, most of these kids arent swimmers, but eager to sit down and talk with me and always full of questions. It is when i talk about being a kid like them, and how this all started with a dream, you see their eyes light up. We talk about how i did it and i tell them they can do it too. Look into a childs eyes and tell them if they dare to dream, and do the work, they can succeed. The power to believe in yourself and inspire others through sport depends upon fair play. Now that im retired, im frequently asked if i think anybody will ever win more medals than me in my lifetime. My answer to that question is i hope so. I would like to think there is some little boy or girl out there now with an even bigger dream, and Even Stronger drive, to work harder than i ever did to do something that has a stro drive to work harder than i did and do something thats never been done before. But to do that, he or she must believe theyll get a fair opportunity to compete. If we allow we will undermine the power of sport and goals and dream of future generations. The time to act is now. We must do what is necessary to ensure the system is fair and reliable so we can all believe in it. Thank you, mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I thank both of you. Miss tiger recognized for 45 minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman and other members of the committee. Good morning. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here today to discuss important topic. We find ourselves at a critical juncture for the soul of sport. Two principles at the heart of why we play sports hang in the balance. You just heard powerful testimony from adam nelson and Michael Phelps on why this matters. We view clean ath alitos and their powerful stories as our fliding light. Our north star. Their stories give us hope and provide the fuel to advocate fir fair competition. In order to do this today, i think we must understand how and why the system is under threat. Theres no timelier example than the uncovering of russias widespread state supported doping system. Over 1,000 russian athletes have been implicate nd this drug program that was prove ben to have been straited by russian officials. At least two Olympic Games with were corruptioned. At the rio games, scores of russian athletes competed despite not being subject to crede bable antidoping programs. When the moment came despite evidence from ath leets around the world, the ioc chose to welcome the team to rio and did not enforce any meaningful sanctions. The ioc missed or ignored the defining moment to confront in the clearest way b possible this win at all costs culture of doping and global sport. It was a chang chance to draw an unambiguous line in the sand to stand up for Clean Athletes of the world. Despite this, however, two Silver Linings have emerged. The first, more than ever before as youve heard today, athletes are mobilizing. Voicing their opinions and fighting more than ever for a level Playing Field and second, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to dispositions for the good of sport to make sure that the kind of state supported doping is never allowed to rear its ugly head again. To get there, the road to reform starts and ends with independence. We have long advocate d in fron of this congress p for a clear separation between those who promote sport and those who police sport. Because to do so otherwise is to have the fox guarding the hen house, you cannot both promote and police your own sport. We along with 22 antidoping agencies support a strong and independent but we also agree to be, that needs reform to become a truly independent Global Regulator, not merely the Sport Service organization that many hope it remains. The good news, mr. Chairman, is that wattas conflicteded governance model could be easily solved with by remoovinging spot member frs the board. Lets take the blindfolds and handcuffs off and let them do the job that dleen clooen ath leelts deserve. I read the testimony of richard and rob prior to coming today. Let me say we know both of them well and have Great Respect on a personal level for their efforts to fight within the system for change. But unfortunately, today, today, they are simply to some extent, just carrying out the instructions from their sport bosses, who arent here, unfortunately. But in regard to their position, we agree with much of it. In fact, thats why National Antidoping agencies including us here in the u. S. Have implemented many of the same sfr strategies years ago, but unfortunately, theyre silent on the crux of the solution, which is to remove the fox from guarding the hen house. We hear that a lot. Fox and the hen house. Youll see quite clearly that while the ioc and wata may be afighting to deputize the fox ad even equip the fox with the appropriate resources to do the job, its still the fox. There is still a conflict of interest and Clean Athletes arn the world are still being let down by sports control of these critical functions. Whats so frustrating is that the solutions are relatively easy, but the determination to implement them is lacking, yet, we remain optic. National antidoping agencies have come together, put forth the copenhagen reform declaration that number one, removes sports, control of antidoping. Two, strengthen patta through improved independence and increased investment. Three, make clear monitor, compliance sanctions. Number four, provide meaningful athletes who have been robbed the recognition they zverev. Deserve. Swift medals that have been stolen. Five, increase support for whistle blowers around the world. Those who value this clean sport, this is our moment. Not just about olympic athlete, wu about every child on the playground that has a dream. If we dont puch, win, well fin find yourselves right back in this same position staring another system in the face that has abuses its on athletes. Robbed other and well be wondering why we tonigdidnt do. Thank you. First of all, thank you for inviting me to testify today on antidoping issue in sport. The agency was established in 1989 to monitor the sport. The code harmonizes policies in all sports and all countries. Wata oversees and works with cooperation in a networkover stake holders in government and sports movements. We heard today that the United States is the Largest National contributor to wada, who funds wada at 2. 5 million, over 27. 5 million annual budget. Wada has come a long way in 18 years. Out of u modest resources. The world antidoping cope is in its third it ration. The code has introduced consistencies to the antidoping rules and processes. Where previously, there was despairty. One should not look past the rules and prudier, as without them, antidoping efforts are unstructured aspirations. They have also introduce d a u. Treaty call td the Unesco International is convention ghent doping in sport. This treaty was ratified in record time by 183 states out of 195. Weve established lasting relationships with world customs organizations and our relationships with the pharmaceutical companies such as pfizer, roach, smith and cline. The past with two years have placed the agency dm unchartered waters. The doping conspiracy in russia has forced a global they have listened to a series of proposals made by stake holders in the wake of the russian doping conspiracy. The board as you know is comprised of representatives from the Sport Movement and from governments. Our board in its november meeting took action on a set of recommendations that we believe both enhanced the role an capacity to help foster clean sport and to help protect the rights of Clean Athletes worldwide. Were moving forward in three main priorities. One, to enhance investigations and intelligence gathering capacity. This work has already begun with the rival of our new chief investigative officer, whose team will and is entirely independent from wads management. Second, the new whiser blow er policy. Weve named it speak up. It has been approved and will be launch nd the coming days. Inforb manhattans are invalue bable against doping in sport. Third and perhaps the most important is the new compliance monitoring, which will be the most thorough review of our antidoping programs. That has ever taken place in the antidoping movement. Rerecognize this will only be effective if support ed by meaningful sanctions for those that subvert antidoping rule. A Foundation Board endorsed principle new graded sanction framework moving forward to ensure that people are being accountable. We are all conscious that niese new undertake x will require a significant level of funding to reel raeealize our mission to protect Clean Athlete. We will present a clean slate drought of our budget to reflect this new level of work. Simply put, to increase our capacity, and the Broader Community will need additional funding from both sport and government to be more successful. Thank you, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you members of the subcommittee. Mim the medical and scientific director of the ioc. Ooichl pleased to have the opportunity to present to you on behalf of the ioc, on strengthening the interNational Antidoping system. The protection of Clean Athletes has been a priority. Our responsibility is broader than that across the whole olympic family. Perhaps thats the most important thing they did in the field of antidoping is. For the first two year, it was totally funded by the ioc, then became a partnership, 5050 and now, the ioc funds it to the tune of 14 million a year and of course, the Sporting Community as a whole spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year on antidoping. More recently with the gender 2020, the importance of protecting the Clean Athlete was really put central within the strategy and since then, there have been two olympic summits, which have called for increase in independence, harmonization and increased transparency. Now, my own personal and professional commitment to this began in 1984 when as a rowing athlete, i won a gold medal los angeles. Since then, ive been a sport medicine doctor, looked after olympic athletes all over the world for more than 25 years and thats give iingen me a passion commitment that we have to do everything we can to ensure that olympic athletes like the two fantastic athletes we have with us today can be as sure as possible that they are competing on b a level Playing Field. Since 2012, ive been the director responsible for the prevention of injuries and illness in athletes for education and research and antidoping, which is a threat to health. Theres a small silver line, this ak scceptanacceptance, but strengthen the system. Now, i really preeappreciate yo calling this hearing gaichbding us the platform to make changes and support from the u. S. Iocs part, we strongly support assessment of organizations, but this will only succeed as f its seen as fair. So we must for the failure of others. As part of governments, the ioc have called for leaders to be independent, so were in agreement on that. Independent from sport and government 57d weve called for further independence through the whole system. Separating lenlgs and policy policing and from sanction, so you dont have the same body setting the rules, enforcing the rules and determining the punishment. In order to avoid conflict of interest or perception of conflict of interest, the ioc have called for antidoping testing to be independent all around the world. As a result, the independent Testing Authority could do everything from thing and analysis through the storing and reanyone sis through to the p s cougs of cases. As records to the Mclaren Report, this is a k sshocking b conspiracy, the ioc have take ben it extremely seriously. There are two commissions urpd the past president of switzerland and a Disciplinary Commission on the Dennis Oswald looking at individual cases. The evidence he gathered is not designed to be used to prosecute individual cases, well be work working hard with further reanalyze and to seize cases can be b pursued by the corp. Of the independent person. And federations. These commissions are ongoing and should finish in time by the games. We are determined to work with all those involved in this fact. Thats wada, International Federations and with governme governments. Thank you to all out of witnesses. Recently, nearly two dozen agencies have voiced support for a number of reforms they believed were necessary. Central to these reform ss the removal of Sports Organizations for the governments of antidoping organizations, including wada. That would eliminate a glaring conflict of interest. So, mr. Keilar, baseded on your experience, would the removal of Sports Organizations from your governeded structure improve your independence and operations . Thank you, we heard the word is broken. It needs to be fixed. Wee hear today for the fact that it did a lot to expose doping in russia and brought to the forefront major issues. Removal improve your independence . We are open to any suggestions on the way forward. Do you support this reform . We do. Taking steps to invoke this change . We, with this governance review, which has independent expert, as well as representatives from sport as well as government to look at the total governance and particularly the exec board should be independent of sport and government. Do you have anything to add . I would just say that if thats the position, its wonderful. Weve had two plus years for that move to be made. Athletes are still wait for change and that sport could remove themselves from the governance. You can have sport involved in the legislative branch, but when it comes time to Clean Athletes, so to have an executive function free of the fox attempting to guard itself and not conflicted by that. Weve yet to have a definitive statement by the ioc to remove themselves from that. So, if thats the position, were thrilled. Mr. Phelps, you write to believe in yourself through clean sport, you need to be able to believe in the system that safeguards clean sport. All athletes must be held to the stam saim standards. So given these recent event, what effect does a doping scheme of this magnitude have upon you as an athlete . I mean, the one of the craziest and big things that come to my mind when i think of International Sports, i dont believe that ive stood up at an International Competition and the rest of the field has been clean. I dont believe that. I dont think ive ever felt thachlt i know that when doi stand up in the u. S. , i know were all clean because were going through the same thing. Were going through the where abouts, the out of competition tests. Were doing all of that stuff, so ipg for me in terms of internationally, i think there has to be something done now. Mr. Nels rngs how about you . Affect does this have on you, especially those that have dreams about being the best and complete iing at olympic level . This notion of trust is really important. Are doing their jobs to the best of their able theties and being open and honest and transparent with ou things are going last year, i think there was a major violation. Now i and i think thats a big shift in the culture of athletics going on right now. Thank you. Im going to recognize ms. Degette for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Tygart, i found your written and also your oral testimony to be refreshingly honest. I want to talk about a few of the findings that you made your you referred in your written testimony to the russian cheating scheme as shockinglyu pervasive, and noted that a quote, spread across more than 30 sports from 1112015, is that correct . It spr yes, maam. You also said quote, russias methods of cheating went from ay board to something out of a spy novel. Samples patch the walls, government Intelligence Officers failed the innate in female samples and emails to the russian minister sport looking for guidance on which helped, athletes to protect, correct . Yes, maam. Lo also in your testimony you described this as a quote nightmare realized, and to point out whistleblowers and journalism played a major role in unearthing this scheme. Mr. Tigar, some of these whistleblowers feared for their own safety, correct . Yes spirit some of those folks are still in hiding in the United States, right . Thats right spirit also wadas independent investigation determined russias Security Service known as fsb took part, correct . Thats right. Wadas independent investigation found that over 1000 russian athletes mightve benefited from the russian doping skin, is that correct . Yes, it is. You also said in your testimony that quote, despite mounds of evidence, the ioc chose not to stand up for Clean Athletes and againstpite institutional, institutionalized doping. You said the ioc decision not to blame russia was quote a defining moment and quote, the ioc failed to lead. Finally you said, history will not judge ioc his decision kindly. Le is that accurate . It is. I want to ask you, mr. Tigert, what should the ioc and at the doping community be doing now to address the findings off wadas independent investigation . I think outside of the reford proposals that we put forward which we think are critically important in the 22 plus wadas around the world have a great, the Silver Bullet if there is one cute during this is removing the fox regarding females. While it wasnt in the iocsng prepared remarks that were submitted yesterday, i think i heard that something theyre prepared to do, remove sport leaders from the wada board. If thats the case that goes a long way in solving the concerns. They have to finish the investigation and ensure the individual cases are file follod upon and any athletes from around the world that were robbed to the rightful place on the podium or given a meaningful celebration. F cd just to ask, are you familiar with this letter at the director general of the ioc sent on february 23, 2017 . I am. And in that letter he says that schmidt commission which is to address the substantial allegations about the potential systematic manipulation of the antidoping samples is continuing its work. And then it says, theyre talking about a quote statesponsored system, will send the final 4 44 in december. They talked about and institutional conspiracy and they said now theyre going to have to quote consider what this change means and what individuals and organizations are, and authorities involved. Do you have any idea what theyre talking about . Im not exactly sure. E. Because this is what i am concerned about. This committee, we did an investigation many years ago about the Salt Lake City aroupics, and this is the sameme kind of gobbledygook we got from the ioc then. They have these and in the investigations. They are looking at angels dancing on the head of a pin. I dont even know what theyre talking about, but youre saying you dont either . Im not sure spirit i want to ask you, mr. Phelps senator nelson, just briefly, what structural changes in midmay te the global antidoping session prevent this kind of activity from happening again . For me i can say from spending a lot of times with wada can look at the difference there. That something is so powerful that as american athletes know that were doing the right thing and they are doing the rightth thing as well. I think if you could change Something Like that it would be great. Mr. Nelson . I think the first change has two main holding all the like different stakeholders in this mess to the same level of accountability flv athletes to. If you strictly enforce the rules for compliance at a a National Level or federation level, you will see people hop and went very quickly because we will lose the opportunity to compete and athletes will lose the opportunity to compete. The second thing is also transparency in reporting pic as an athlete ive always struggled to figure out how well this group is doing because information is not necessarily readily available. Theres been some steps the last few years to help with that, but the number of adverse findings given the number of samples that are actually collected each year suggests that either the problem is not as pervasive as theyes think, or at the testing isnt quite there yet. Ve thank you very much, mr. Cha. I would ask unanimous consent to put this thread were 23rd letter from the ioc into the record speed without objection it will happen. Now recognize mr. Walden for five minutes. Again thanks to all of our witnesses pick your testimony has been most helpful and i want to just ask our olympians againr to make this clear break you dont think you have competed in a clean olympics, is that right . Internationally whether its World Championships for the Olympic Games, i dont feel that, no. Mr. Nelson . No. Dr. Budgett, i do question for you. I just want to clarify to make sure we all heard this the same way, that your organization now would support removing sport leaders from the wada board . Thats absolutely correct. Overseas within a structure of governance would be developed through this government. So within the year, okay. H ts i want to go back, heres what i think a lot of us are concerned. There were whistleblowers as far back as 2010 who probably risk more than just their ability to compete, to come forward and share with the organization what was going on. 01 and it strikes me that it wasnt until there were Investigative Press reports that anything happened. So the question is, do you have a process that we can trust that whistleblowers who take great risks could trust to come forward and actually have some action taken on what they share because clearly, people are at great risk when they come forward and theyre not going to do it if they think theyre just going to get blown off. I mean, youve got to convince us that something is going to g really change. To that is why wada is a place. I would refer the question to my colleague on my right ear but just to reiterate, the ioc is in the process of removing the fox from henhouse and i think its a good analogy. We are in the process relinquishing all control over antidoping. And pass it to this independent testing i have a degree inoi journalism. Sources matter. Sources matter. Its how organizations of the press can do the job effectively. But if they are ignored they go away and we lose out. Mr. Koehler . Fully agree. Spirit goahead. Thank you. It is so important to protect t the whistleblowers and i think its the right time to recognize two very brave whistleblowers who came forward nearly, in early 2010. Yes, we didnt have the power to investigate it, but what i can tell he doing that time is that when they came forward, our ultimate goal was to protect their safety. We had information from them that came from the iff about corruption, from russia, about corruption. We did know who to hand it to you so we were in a difficult position and we had no power to investigate. Theres a question when they came forward so who had the power to investigate . Nobody. Except the national federations. So the government, or the International Federation figure was until 2015 that the color change and give us the power to investigate. What a broken system. What a broken system. Up to that point here at me, alex onto how else can you look at this . Youve got new reports. Thank god youve got investigative journalist who blew the doors open on this. So now you have the reports. Now youre going to give us confidence that youre going to reorganize this operation and get to the point would be dont have conflict of interest. And where are athletes, especially u. S. Athletes thatan play by the rules, can compete against other athletes that play by the rules, right . I can tell you categorically that any whistleblower who comes forward to this day as of 2015, the number one priority is to protect them, to protect their rights. Even when we didnt have investigative power we took it upon ourselves to protect them to make sure they were safe speed and are you aware of any whistleblowers that come forth recently and made additional allegations . Fe we are, yes. S. And are those allegations being investigated in any manner or do you still like that authority . Ns being absolutely they are all being investigated. So what happens . I mean, once you complete your investigation, who rules . Walk me through that part. Anytime theres a whistleblower that comes forward, our investigative team, which again is going to be six people and not nearly enough for a global organization, they have and independent role to bring forward and to research and thvestigate antidoping rules violations. Should they have evidence comes in they will bring it forward to the wada management and to the wada committees and to the wada board to report and determine what sanctions should be required. Mr. Tigert is shaking hissa head. Go ahead. I just think theres a real important point here and its what i sent in my oral testimony about deputizing the fox. , if the wada Foundation Board is making determination and overseeing investigations or testing, and dr. Budgett talked about removing sport from the wada governance board and not just from a testing and organization, that is a critical point because if you continue tg have sport overseeing investigations, determining compliance, acting as a Global Regulator itself, its no different than the current status quo, which is the fox guarding the hen house. It would be great to have a definitive conclusion if the iocs position today is at the wada governance level, they were removed themselves from the board in which they could do today. It doesnt take another summit to do that. They could do it today. Spent my time has expired. Thanthank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to our witnesses. Now recognize mr. Pallone for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I wanted to discuss the role of the athletes in addressing the challenges we face with doping, and mr. Tygart come in an article you wrote called the athletes voice of force for change you say and i quote, at the end of the its the athletes not the suits who billions of people around the world to need to watch it if the athletes who live us holding our breath. Without and theres no sport and without them there is no true and lasting change. So you say in your testimony that now more than ever athletes are mobilizing and voicing their opinions. My question is, what role should athletes play in terms of policing their own sports, specifically, evie at the the doping structure more broadly . It starts with the athletes. They own the culture of sport and its wonderful. Its its wonderful that there no mobilizing and realizing how important this right is to them. But they also have to have confidence in the system. Should have a clear voice in a system but just like the Sports Organizations, they cant play a role as an active athlete in testing themselves. That would be like the fox guarding the henhouse. Le there has to be an independent organization that does it on the avenue of the athletes, but then protecting that feel that they exist and is absolutely criticau and we wont ultimately successful without thereby into the program your faith and trust in the system and willingness to do Everything Possible to win but do it by playing by the rules. Into the program. Whag the role that athletes should be playing to ensure their sports are free from doping . For me, i have always made sure i take care of myself and prepared the west way possible. Ive never voiced opinions. Ive stayed in my lane. All the time. For me, it takes away what im doing. Takes way what im trying accomplish and i think thats just one thing for me that i never did. U i it gets frustrating and we want for me, i would like to stand up on the block at an International Competition and know the other competitors im racing against prepared just like i did. They went for the exact same hardware guide it. They dedicated themselves to doing what nobody has done before or to accomplishing their goal. That would be a dream for me and i hope to be illiteracy that one day. Mr. Nelson, should at least be more vocal and demand reform so we can better ensure the system will guarantee clean play. More than he is in their words, they need to be integrated into the solution as well did right out the way athletes places are integrated into olympics forces through the advisory committees. The committees rarely have the power to do anything other than influence policy with people coming to them by asking questions. Is to react to forests, not april to force. But this particular issue considericonsideri ng a debate on so many athletes and privacy in so many athletes, its a huge burden that lays bare. Athletes we accept this burden with open arms or we have no input into it. Aco if youre about to entrust with athletes and changing culture, we have the way to the airfare voice into the leadership and the actual structure of the solution. Thanks. Im going to go back to mr. Tiger former question. The independent investigation it was my understanding that please were prepared to boycott the international bobsled and skeleton championship that was set to take place and take place in sochi this month. Athletes around the world have taken a just cause. O the question is what can you tell us about the potential athlete boycotts of that and every going to see more instances of bad, where athletes put their feet down and participate in boycotts . I hope not and i say that because ive talked to athletes about that issue and talk with many bobsled athletes about it here thats a maintainable position to put an athlete that your Sports Organization is not going to enforce the decision in a two bar events from russia. You are concerned about your own security in the testing machine to go to russia or you decide to boycott appeared that is noted fair to those athletes and we should not put athletes in those positions would make that decision and we dont have to because sports in the antidoping system can determine two and fourth positions made, not evidence in russia until they clean up their act, to become compliant and then you alleviate that concern from athletes minds. I dont for a second that any athletes have to boycott. That says theyre frustrated and thats a good example and theyre willing to even consider that option that they are frustrated and they want change and they want change now. Amount of time. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you at the vicechairman of the subcommittee, mr. Griffith for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank you all for being here. The folks here today at the good guys trying to figure out how to get it where its ready. With that being said, i think im hearing from meeting of the minds going on. Am i hearing you say that the ioc is prepared to not only relinquished the governance board, but also investigations investing our havoc on a bridge too far . Youre correct about the investigation testing of medicine in the ioc called for since the olympic summits and its very important. We want to do it for sports and is a conflict of interest to government decide because that is what was happening in russia as well. We need to look at info and a totally. I think that has to go through geoprocess and so i dont know exactly what structure will come out, what representation will be from sport, whether minority wil representation so theres some link for the people in charge of the government to sort out. On the actual testing a mobileat structure brand that. The governance board is in question that should anticipate reforms before the end of this year. I certainly hope so. The first meeting in a week or so. I appreciate that. Then ask this question is fine as ive got you. It may be what mr. Keillor touched on earlier. Mr. Nelson showed us his mettle earlier and that was really a special moment. But a food court in atlanta is not appropriate to say someone who tries to problem solve and i know a lot of us appear to doubt and we have disagreements we try to problems all. Why not we than any medals given late because somebody cheated at the opening ceremonies at the next olympics for thatno particular support. Ed at do you think that sounds like a better way to get that with aa happy meal . It was a really cool toy. Oolo yes, thats a big step forward and would certainly recognize the issue and not sort of sweep it under the rug, which is important as well. Mr. Phelps, and i think the entire American Swimming Team brought this up maybe accidentally, but with lilly kane and others talking about this openly at the olympics last summer, it became an issue that most americans are now aware of and millions more around the world. Millpreciate you all do we not hear the i appreciate you being here today and taking out your time to join us. Is there anything you want to touch on that should have been on an opportunity to speak on . I will say i agree with what youre saying by going to the next olympics. As i said in my testimony,t theres Nothing Better than watching your flat rice listening to the national lampoon. For me thats one of the greatest things i will miss the most. To be able to represent your country and how that all men. E i he deserves that. I will take you back in time a little bit. How long did it take you when you started complaining aboute u long sentences before the iocrt changed those . Weve been working on drugs for 30, 40 years. Sentences got changed in a f couple years. N it wasnt long. Ge the larger suits probably came out in 07 and World Championships about nine, that was the last chance anyone had an opportunity to swim in them. Like i said then, that took away from the actual sport. That wasnt the sport. Some manufacturers trying to come up with a suit that they ink as fast as and some were different than others. You can go into a lot of different tactical parts they appeared quickly we got that removed. Hopefully we can get this resolved as well. I hope so, too. I know you vindicated some frustration, but what you hear today, does that give you some hope we are in fact on the right path and getting the situation . There is always going to beng cheaters, but a point where we are actually governing . Or possession with 22 other International Doping organizations is Crystal Clear we have to remove the thoughts of the governance. So the governing board still determines consequence for the investigation and still determines what testing plans are acceptable, still as responsible ultimately for determining who is in compliance with the rules and who is not. No different than what we currently have. We are not in agreement. We will continue to push because we recognize the solution is tol remove because you cant effectively promote police and applets cant believe in a system where stores on transport still determines defendants best interest and controls the material aspects of antidoping. Dont you think we can do this a little faster than eight years and find out who the cheaters are . We can prevent them from coming to begin with. In real paris 1900 team at the eighth out of 11,000 athletes from 10 highrisk sports that have no test of record prior to the rio games. How unacceptable is that . That is what happens when. Sports, that is what happens when spores attempts to police itself. Sp the announcement following the report was the integrity of itself. At the end of the day we need to stop that from happening toto ensure we prevent dopers from going to the games to begin with. What did we say the number was for six months leading into the game . A bakers dozen . A bakers dozen. Over 1900 athletes. Youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you. I really want to thank the witnesses and actually the athletes. I find so shocking that in the Olympic Games in International Competitions you cant feel confident that you dont feel competent but someone hasnt been duped. I am hopeful that in this very bipartisan hearing today that we are having, and that we are going to be able to contribute to alleviating that lack of confidence so that when the kids who work with now have their dreams, that they can believe and i wanted thank you, mr. Mr. Tygart and hopefully all of you for restoring that confidence to all americans. I did want to requote congressmen dig at quoted chu, mr. Tygart assayed the evidence that antidoping groups, the ioc chose not to stand up against institutionalized doping and you pointed out the ioc punted the decision to the International Sports federations and they miss the opportunity to stand for Clean Athletes and send a clear message. So how should the ioc at themes. Time has held russia accountable for its deception as prescribed in what is independent of the investigation. Thank you for the question. We were clear of him with 13 other National Antidoping organizations from around the world who sent a letter to the ioc after the Mclaren Report and exposed russia institutionalized doping was established and said listen, you cant reward the Olympic Committee whose you responsibility it is as a member of the ioc who was complicit and its according to some of the evidence as well as responsibility of their own country to ensure nothing like that ever happens. This is the antithesis of the movement and the values. Dont allow them to come. Theyve done it in other circumstances that apartheid was not the south African Embassy come because of actions by the state and things going on. They have the power to do it. I recommend the patient was still like the russian Olympic Committee there having uniform and consistent application by individual asp leave who might not have been part of the system if there are any and you werent tainted by the system. Nd dont just handed out two different sports federations that are not the time, money, resources, expertise and days before rio. It is a mess. So do you believe russia has been sufficiently held accountable for this corruption . We dont. I understand the ioc has warned committees to look further into the evidence presented in the independent investigation. You have confidence in those two committees . Without reading my drug too much, its the fox guarding the henhouse. You have an investigation who will make determinations at this point in the ballgame and you cant have trust in the outcome of those investigations. Unfortunately because the perception is you cant promote in produce your support by allowing the athletes to go in the russian Olympic Committee td go. There is a selffulfilling prophecy that you dont want to be successful in most cases to justify your decision to let them in to begin with. Im not saying theyre going to do that. That is the perception we hear from athletes all the time concerned about that. A sandwich you heard at your hearing and if those promises are implemented, would you then have confidence . It is still the governance piece is still troubling and will not allow it to full independence free from the promoting and policing aspect in easter became confidence in the way that it would. The model has worked in other parts of the country and theres no good reason not to other than to control the outcomes. Why wouldnt you let go of the governance of female athletes will have more confidence in it. Antidoping agencies. The only reason is that you can continue to control it. On there is no other good reason. It all depends on all the people inspired by apple have more confidence. Let me ask you finally how did the russian situation go undetected for so long . What failed . I disagree with mr. Keillor on his ability to investigate going back to 2010. Few would disagree with the clear powers to hold organizations compliant and this ratio of countries and sports, whether they were compliant with the rules are not frequently came to their board and it wasr determined they were going to make decisions. They are not going to hold them accountable because of the bad pr if they said these organizations are accountable. We have to remove the authority they have clearly not to investigate. We have in the past and what they had in the past and clearly have today to do compliance is done in a way that history of the sport influence and for nono other reason. Thank you. I yield back. Mr. Brooks from indiana for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for sharing with us in educating us all and the challenges you face. The organizations of antigovernment organizations, what are some of the other reforms you believe are necessary that ive been advocating by others to enhance authorities and to enhance maybe even their resources to investigate. I think its improved independence and transparency io board laments, clear process for how Board Members are appointed or voted, of course increase investment. Ho we think they have and have had the authority to investigate. If theres any question about that in their position is different come and make that absolutely clear. Do the job of monitoring compliance and have a clear plan for how youre going to do that. Do you believe based on most types of reforms you could address an issue as nationstates sponsored . I do. Adoption back to whistleblowersk at the same will and determination not to do the right data. Its not holding governmentoldig accountable. Its investigating sport and holding count affordable. The charter can hold national Olympic Committees accountable and that easily can be done if the process is determined to make sure athletes around the world have these institutional doping situation so never happen again. C mr. Keillor, if you would please respond to what mr. Tygarts suggestions are with respect to the view of its authority to hold nationstates responsible and have you ever done so . I would first like to clarify the fact that prior to 2015, one did not have the powers to affect it and come into force until the antidoping code was established with the revision. Out of curiosity come youve been existing since 1999 . Xi thats correct. Howard y executed not that Investigative Authority until 2015 . First came into force in10 2003. There have been three iterations since. The code is not the worst code. It has been developed by stakeholder consultation and everybody feeds into it. To be honest, the reason the investigation came in ways we saw the power of the whistleblowers coming forward and they needed an independent body to investigate. What it was created in 1999, forgive me i dont know all the history. It was never intended to be an Investigative Authority when it has to do with antidoping. Thats correct. It wasnt until 03 the different coats come to be, so what is it besides educating and besides testing, what is it that you would attribute as poor as successes. What is that youve done if you werent able to investigate s until 2015 . Theres been a pollution in the antidoping system. E weve done a lot of that. The first thing we did was harmonize antidoping rules. Prior to the code and athlete in russia in enacted in the United States can have different sanctions. One could have two years and one could have for years. Different sports have different sanction so we harmonize the process. Had he been had 1900 athlete at 11,000 not been subject to doping testing at all. I fully agree with mr. Tygarts comment. This should not have been cannot happen and needs to be a further investment to ensure it doesnto happen. One thing i raised earlier was we are now moving into a system of noncompliance review. In the past it hasnt been as rigorous as it should have been. That is the call by athlete to go in and audit and make people accountable if they are not doing it, we have appointed an independent Compliance Review Committee to make a call to countries on sports that are deemed not doing the work to make it compliant. Its time to change. Those countries not doing the amount of testing need to be made accountable. Would it be your requests that maybe six investigators to investigate the world of athletes might not be sufficient and what percentage of your budget is allocated towards investigations . Its an understatement. Is not enough. We are working on a minimalenouh budget. The independent report covered spent over 2. 5 million on two reports. Under 27. 5 million budget come to simply do not have enough too react to the needs of the athletes. Maybe the budget should bee e reallocated to increase the amount of fun to your other duties. With that, i yield back. I recognize ms. Castor for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you are the witnesses. The antidoping enforcement is flawed. Enforc the athlete on countries to cheat have to be strengthened. E until july 2016 the world Antidoping Agency recommended to the ioc that abandoned russian athletes from the 2016 games and despite that recommendation if the Russian Sports federation carried out an analysis on the around and looked at the individual their antidoping records that russia could approve them toand participate. But at the end of the year, there are press reports. The act director general of russias National Antidoping agency says no, actually whats been going on in russia for a russia for a long time as an institutional conspiracy. Years worth of cheating schemes while emphasizing the governments top officials were not involved. But the New York Times reported a lab director tainted samples and provided is a performanceenhancing drugs with some of the worlds most prestigious competition. Members of the Security Service, a successor to the russian kgb broke into sample bottles and a deputy sports minister for years ordered coverups of top at leith used banned substances. I want everyone to know the russians have disputed the following weeks. Mr. Phelps, mr. Tygart, how frustrating is it her a lift . What is the feeling like as you go into this competition. Can you screen all of this out when youre going to compete and you know that other countries are sanctioning c for me having the chance to represent the country was a tremendous honor. You cant do anything about it. I cant do anything about any other athlete. At that point we try to sticke, together as a team and we look it up on the block and fight as hard as we can. Ck what testing are you going through . I can tell you with some of the things ive gone through filling out paperwork for my whereabouts every single day of where i am so they can do outcome testing. I got it for 60 years. These forms quarterly. Stacks of paper. Now its online. What kind of physical tests. Lab tests, tests. Its all the time. Obviously monthly, multiple times a month for me. Especially when im in the u. S. Even when im overseas. If you go to an Olympic Games, the last four i was testedd almost every day. Are there people going through the same things im going through . Apparently not. 1900 athletes who competed in the rio games that were never tested at all. Mr. Tygart, youve heard rio mr. Budget say the changes are in the process to actually take ioc as low as out of the enforcement side of the antidoping. What does that mean really . You specific. What happened in process to take the fox out of the henhouse at this point . We will see how it gets flushed out. Its good we are finally seen it on friday and the testimony and the level of detailed. The governing structure of the ioc. The model is what we know as the separation of powers. Youve got a legislative body that makes the rules and athlete play a huge part of that. T sport government should do thata but legislative body to establish the wall. And then it should come time to a totally independently of word to have an executive branch that then enforces the law. Of course we have to have a judicial branch. An executive branch on it. They would be subject to the laws they are enforcing. It should make a determination of who is compliant and ensure o that test a few saudis that in the same fashion in the same les level integrity with the same. We will buy you to do first when audited under that program. It isnt held accountable in thf program. Thank you should or athletes in competition. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank all the witnesses, especially to mr. Phelps. Just curious coming to the fourthplace winner, was he awarded the bronze medal, somebody you didnt have the metal, did he get one . Yes it was. Was that even american . The medal is given to him. Ive still got to get my head around what you went through. We all do tend to focus on the winner gold medals, winner of the super bowl and so forth. Just amazing. Its a great hearings, so im curious. We look at the ioc and at least read where you look at an independent testing agency. You know, overall im assuming then the u. S. , u. K. , japan, canada, submissions that i think in alaska athletes are actually doing the job, would they then be replaced with the international independentced testing . More testing than anywhere in the world. The testing goes on in the lead up to the games. Weve heard how thats not adequate everywhere. Thats a function like you saw in the International Federations. We are working very hard including actually put in place a program leading up to the next schemes that would belace comprehensive. The other aspect which would certainly do all the testing and do the testing as well. Full conflict of interest when it comes to national interests. Im concerned on the budgetary peace, would appearca there are nations the u. K. , japan and canada. Ill ask mr. Phelps, are they doing the job. Would you think those fivend National Testing agencies are would serious . S the exact method in the u. S. And travis could answer that a lot better. I do believe countries out there going through the same process we are. For me, we should all be sharing a pledge the same field and for me as a father and my on presentation, i dont know what or how i would even talk to my son about doping in sports. I would hope to never have that conversation and i hope we can get it cleaned up then. A for me, going through everything ive done, that is probably a question that i could get asked. I dont know how i would answer. It. Its the win at any cost and certainly we are seeing what is happening to the health of athletes who did cheat and even in football, the concussions and what that leads to later inng, life. Mr. Keillor, do you have concerns about the National Antidoping in certain countries like the u. S. , canada . Ave i wanted to step back if you allowed me. We could double the governance review in the world, which wean welcomed. We want. I have been in this business for 20 years and its time for change. Its time to put investment into this business. I look globally at the amount os money being put internationalmog antidoping agencies, simply insufficient. There is the crux of the issue that more investment needs to be put to protect sports, Clean Athletes. It is so important and we need to start putting some investment in and not just saying it, but doing it. Until that happens, we will never see change. So on the sanctions piece, right now we are talking about somebody getting caught cheating and they are given a twoyear suspension, for your suspension. Should we be mr. Conan as thesi lifetime ban, one and done t rushing mark images show trying to skirtho the rules, one and done what do you think . Thats a very big question, sir. The answer i think that you have to have some ability for the act is to protect their own rights in the process as well. If youre going to increase the level of the penalties associated with it, you have two entries the investment in theirr ability for themselves as well. We are the lowest common denominator in this whole bid. We are trusted to make the most critical part of the decisionmaking process. We are also the least informed and is prepared to make a period i am okay with increasing penalties and doing something providing a provision for a gray area here unfortunately. Emergency therapeutic forms, medical condition sometimes require certain actions. Im okay with one and then. Im okay with financial abilities associated with it. This is a business. We treated differently because of the olympic sports. At the end of the day you can hold them to the same standard you might hold people in otherce traditions. Its an olymp thank you all for yourr tha testimony. Thank you, mr. Chair. Welcome to our panelists. We have done a lot of Work Together in addressing the isset of doping in this case in the sport of horse racing, this is a critically important issue for f the equine and integrity of the sport which contributes approximately 4 billion to the new york state economy each year and supports some 380,000 domestic jobs nationwide. If this committee is interested in supporting antidoping efforts across the board, id encourage us to schedule a hearing on doping in horse racing and the legislation is introduced with my colleague which would restore integrity back to the sport of kings. Back to this particular focus, weve heard about investigation that revealed russias efforts manianipulate drug doping control. Jack robertson who is a former special agent for United States Drug Enforcement agency helped investigate the allegations involving russian doping. August 4th of 2016, propublic or ran a story about his time and in the piece, implied the agency lacked adequate resources to investigate dopingtime. Allegations and he said this cannot be versus russia. I need manpower and money to come available. They beefed up every department but never investigations. I was working 11 hours a day, sometimes 18 hours. You are a seasoned investigator. Do they have what it takes to investigate doping allegations are particularly when they complex cases such as russia or state sponsored support he arise, doping . Excuse me, clearly resources is a question. They could be better utilized to ensure investigations are done in a manner to get to hold those entities to achieve accountable roles. They operate on a 30 million budget which is nations and the states. Based on your expertise, is a 30 million budget im not to police the world antidoping code and should the u. S. Be contributing for it . I dont know the question. Clearly there is enough money is worth at least. You saw my testimony to fund th ioc has the 1. 4 billion funds total asset of 3. 92015 billion. The money is there whether its for, government. N. Th the question is protecting the integrity of the property would put out to the marketplace important enough to spend more than 1 or 2 on . Absolutely it is. We have to ensure wada has the resources to do what it needs te do. Whether directly through support of funds from government. You believe you have enough money to do your job . No, i dont. Given the exact figure today, i would be witness to do that. What i can say is opening remarks that we are developing a clean slate budget based on new reforms, based on new capacities that we have to identify where and how much money is needed. I will however say that we talk about wada, but more importantly are equally as important as the injection of funds into the National Antidoping organizations. The National Antidoping organizations are the ones carrying out the business. If they are not equipped to protect Clean Athletes and we are so far behind we will never win this case. The International Olympic committee has a 1. 4 billion b fund. O the ioc currently provides wada 15 million a year. Detailing controlledeard manipulation. Should the ioc provide more resources to wada . This is something that needs to be handled today and what ever way to take care of this issue. We need to figure it out. If its more money, its more money. For me, growing up in sport, iak always thought that the greats and how they did it. That was my dream to be one of the bass. It is through hard work ands dedication and it sat to his th. Other athletes who choose to take different routes to getarer there. They only test positive ones, but multiple times and they are still allowed to compete at anan interNational Level. Thats not fair to the other at leeds going to the grind and accomplish the goals we have. Single d mr. Chair, make time is over. I yield back. I recognize mr. Costello for 15 minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I understand they reanalyze all samples from the 2014 winter olympics. Can you explain what testing is being did i miss samples and doesnt include testing on amb s samples . Inclu reanalysis program has been a huge success if you want to look at it that way. As you know, for rio we have over 100 finance from london and beijing. As regards to sochi, all the samples from the russian athletes have been reanalyze. The result of those are in Case Management at the moment. That was been reanalyze. Also, ought to samples on the process forensically examined to look for evidence of the proe clarion. N, this an antidoping rule violation for individual athletes. Violatn you have answered back, but does the testing included an analysis of the sample bottles to identify scratches or marks suggest exactly. And to document that theyre exactly so they can be used in a case. It had i want to thank the athletes for their testimony. Its a great day to raise awareness about the need for even more integrity in the Testing Process and certainly you are both american heroes and we recognize you as such. They think it is very with each of the time prepare today. Ill ask you both first but then i would like to open it up to a panelist. What would you deem appropriate progress one year from now you picked a time in the future progress ohieving a morere independent and honest system. Mr. Noll said, mr. Phelps and whoever else would like to answer. The first thing that has to happen is although the stakeholders to the same level of accountability that athletes do. If we can accomplish that, that will go a long way towards cleaning up sport. The second thing is i think you actually need to find a way to change the culture that allows this. We talk about differences between this area of the world and some other areas of the world. I know for a fact there are certain areas of the world were doping is part of the culture. There has to be some education and reeducation of the key players in those areas. To me if i can see those changes, education andn Structural Reforms to implement the compliance. That would be a huge change. At i agree completely with everything you said. I think we were talking earlier. It took us 20 years to get to this point. Who knows how long its going to take a step forward. To we spent over 20 years in the pool. Im glad people began to take it seriously and in a serious matter because it is crushing boards for youth and everybody else around the world. Can you put a time limit on here . I dont know. It is hard here in what im hearing and trying to put a timeframe on it. I have no clue. Thank you for your question. It doesnt take a year. These allegations first came out in december 2014 with well over two years to do with them. Today is the day. What could happen today to remove sport from the executiveo functions. Ecause you the 1. 4 billion funds, and blind trust in his staffers moving forward. All three of those answers are spot on both in terms of exposing of the frustration thas athletes feel as well as i can technically be done to show a master of old impact. I do find it to be extremely important to know how a system that . To the integrity thats improved but is not yet been improved. Te what type does in terms of disillusionment to our athletes and what decisions athletes may be confronted with when they realized the reality of the situation. He certainly, as an american, we want to make sure we are encouraging those in youth sports to conduct themselves in an ethical way and also to make sure they are not doing anything to their body that could cause them longterm Health Impacts and to not have a system that reagan forces that should be a cause for concern for every parent and every coach and every athletic trainer. I dont think we want to put our children in that sort of position or that conundrum. Thank you for your time. I yield back its mr. Clark is recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank our panelists mr. Noll said that mr. Phelps for putting a face to the act gives the them the courage to call out the unethical of disgraceful conduct on those who commit doping to continue to plague and cheat the integrity of our international y competition. We truly appreciate your testimony here today. Mr. Chairman, the scope and scale of the allegations ofai doping against russia presented and five once independent investigation are extremelya troubled. I would like to see what sanctions russia will face as a result of the findings. Subsequent to the release of mr. Mclarens investigation in july of last year, why does the committee declined entry for rio 2016 of all at leeds submitted by the Russian Committee and the paralympic committee. Mr. Kohler, why did someone recommend to the ioc that it declined all aggression entries for these two . I cant speak on behalf of our executive committee, but i can tell you they reviewed the Mclaren Report and deemed it appropriate to make those recommendations for cleanupmakee leaves. As you know, the ioc did not order a ban. Instead it deferred to the International Sports federation to determine which athletes should or should not compete. The athletes voice of force for change. You say that at the summer games in rio in 2016, scores of the athletes competed despite not having been subject to credible antidoping programs. End quote. You also pointed out in your testimony that sports federations with few exceptions had neither the time nor expertise to deal effectively with the fallout from the independent investigation. With e mr. Tygart, can you elaborate on why moving this decision to the International Sports federation may not have resulted in the credible deliberative process were on the Clean Athletes were allowed to compete. Im not sure why it was done. The justification for not damning following wadas recommendation, the russian Olympic Committee to his individual responsibility, which really makes no sense when theij reasoning to then hand the decision on individual justice to 38 different sports individul organizations. Thats not going to result in a consistent application. The justification that has been given doesnt hold up once it is scrutinized. I think it ultimately resulted and shaking their fists and negatives never been shaken before. If the ioc wouldve done what the National Paralympic committee did and that the International Track and field day to ban those athletes from the Russian Federation turned their games, we are not here today. Quite frankly. My final question is for not the budget, but please feel free to answer as well if either of s you. Can you describe any jurisdictional overlap at the ioc, whether direct or indirect between those tasked with imposing sanctions for doping oe charges and those of the vote in determining future olympic for t posted . Im not sure i completely understand your question. Ic okay, let me repeat it then. Can you describe for us anythen jurisdictional overlap at the ioc, whether direct or indirect between those with imposing sanctions for doping charges and those of the vote in determining future olympic host cities . Thank you. I think thats beyond my jurisdiction to answer. But to say for rio as iy mentioned, the jurisdiction over the sanctions was handed over to the court as sports, so it was not within the ioc. This started the process that the independent Testing Authority by handing over the actual sanctioning process to ag independent body and should be independent from any otherd so function. D t. Have a sense of whether the personnel is common in both entity . Absolutely there is. In fact, a lot recommended to bi in the russian government or is that executive decision that also is dead on the ioc thatre when the decision came to the ioc voted opposite of how they voted on the wada decision. They wear two hats. They make two different outcomes on the determination in the ioc ultimately votes where he was awarded the Olympic Games. Mr. Carter peered i yield back, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank you all for being here. A it is commendable that you would take time out to be with us. I especially want to thank you, mr. Nelson. Im a fellow georgian. Welcome, glad to have you here. What you dont recognize or realizes theyve got some really nice and georgia, but certainly not nice enough for you to be warranted and metal and im very sorry that you had to receive ia that way. I was reading and researching a little bit that you first heard about this very reporter . Yes, sir. I had no official contact with the ioc are the ioc or any movement within the olympic i movement. What i can say is the process is an awful lot better now and there has been some fantastic medal ceremonies for athletes who could be awarded titles as a result of the analysis. The im glad to hear that. What about notifying them . Do you notify them before the press . Notifications come to the b national Olympic Committee. Before the press is notified. You wouldve notified the individual . Of course. Thank you good glad we got that straight. Ive read your resume. You are kind of the traditional olympian. He just worked jobs and train just like i think most olympians have. I feel like i can relate to you. Ill be quite honest with you and full disclosure here. I wanted to be an olympian, too. I did. Ill say more about that in just a minute. Unfortunately, i ended up not only been short, but. I had the same dreams. My question is this, you seem to be as i say the traditional olympian. The drug testing you had to go through, im sure it was quite laborious and that it really impacted your personal life a se lot. I think michael has probably had more than ive experienced in my lifetime, but i can tell you they show up at the most inopportune moment without apologies. Over time to build relationships with their collection officers and its important because they learn a lot about you in the process. It is extraordinarily invasive. Mr. Phelps, do want to share some stories as well question our i will agree, for me i would have training trips to Colorado Springs than i would have a morning off. But i would be woken up atsp 6 05 or the drug testers and i would feel it a back to sleep. Those are the things we are doing is athletes to make sure the sport is clean. I wish i could say that about a everybody else. Can you elaborate on that a little bit . Im sure youve interacted with your competitors. Can you what kind of experiences today have . Do they have similar experiences . They dont bring it up. They dont talk about it. They are not being woken up. I think to think some are. Speed that wed like to think that there is a number of the top 10, whatever it might be, top 20, top 100 in the world. The interNational Testing pose a number of athletes who are undem the same standards. We have to fill out every single day that we where i am at thatlt time. And its easy enough where i can get on the phone and say my whereabouts are changing. This is where im going. Say what plan youre on, what hotel youre staying in, that is what weve gone through ive gone through. You want to see times like him you have to get up here andt wait for five minutes. Nevertheless, he mentioned something about the pharmaceutical manufacturers anh be notified and working to figure out what drugs it is that you should be looking for. Can you elaborate on that quickly . Very quickly we have anan arrangement in a memorandum of we ha understanding. Theyll share information of she preclinical trial substances that we can find a way to detect should athletes be taking them. Am a pharmacist by profession so thats important to me. Ive got a couple more seconds. I want to say this and im not trying to be dramatic, but i think its important. Obviously youve got too worldclass athletes here who we are very proud of him doing more than competing. They are here testifying about a problem in trying to fix it. Thank you for doing that. This is important that its fair to them being worldclass this athletes. But its important to a lot of kids around the world. There was a time when the three of us were the same. W we are all in the backyard. We were dreaming. I was standing on the cinderblock looking down at aye phelps and adam nelson and i was the olympic champion. We owe it to those kids. We always do those streamers to make sure it is fair, to make sure they had the opportunity. Thank you both good thank you all for being here. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you two other panelists. The testimony that i have heard today is disturbing on a number of levels. I am outraged that russian officials cheated, broken theraa rules, attacked the integrity of the olympics to influence the outcome of the olympics for their benefit. Kind of sounds familiar, doesnt it . Russias wide spread up in a danger to the health of their own at late, not only did they put their own athletes are brace, but they also cheated the millions of rates across the globe at work hard and play clean. It also violates the trust between nations who put their wo faith in a system and work toward the same goal which is an even Playing Field for all athletes. La we maxed out the proper checks and balances in place to ensure that no one asked late or one country cheats to have an unfair advantage. I am a physician. Weve now that doping is the use of hormones, whether natural hormones or synthetic or blood transfusions in order to increase the capacity meaning increase in the red light cells which could cause an increase in high risk for strokes, pulmonary emboli and other serious lifethreatening health em problems. We see this in the Emergency Departments with the imap leads. What are the symptoms that you i can tell the parents or coach, somebody out there in the community to watch for in case the youth is using these typesun of drug enhanced being performanceenhancing drugs . Thank you did i sat in my state that this is a Health Attack on that is. Often they either that unscented often goes from supplement andnd theres a widespread abuse of supplements and sports and on through to the use of prohibited substances. What are the signs and symptoms for coaches to look out for . There can be side effects from anabolic airways of masculinization and females is the most obvious sign, but also severe acne and the ones you wouldnt see, cardiac, liver, things like that. Thank you. Since im halfway through my time, i will direct my questions to our nations heroes,ac. Mr. Nelson and mr. Phelps appeared your recent father, boomer. The recent father, twin daughters contact and stage. I just cant wait until they identify what their dreams are. I know that there are a lot of kids out there who look up to you, in my district we will leave this hearing from yesterday as the u. S. Senate will meet this morning at 10 30 eastern. Lawmakers to vote on the nomination of ryan zinke. Following that a vote to advance the nomination of ben carson to be hud secretary. A confirmation vote on that expected tomorrow. Tomorrow ready, rick. Nomination to be u. S. Energy secretary. Live coverage of the u. S. Senate on this wednesday morning here on cspan2. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain dr. Barry black will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. God of wonder, beyond all majesty,