U.S. Olympic swimmers slam World Anti-Doping Agency in congressional testimony

June 26 (UPI) -- U.S. Olympic champion swimmers Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt blasted the World Anti-Doping Agency -- just weeks before the 2024 Paris Olympics -- during testimony Tuesday on Capitol Hill, saying WADA is "unwilling to enforce its policies consistently around the world."

Phelps, a 23-time Olympic gold medalist, and Schmitt, a four-time gold medalist, testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation for a hearing titled "Examining Anti-Doping Measures in Advance of the 2024 Olympics."

Tuesday's hearing focused on a recent report that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned substance Trimetazidine, a prescription heart drug that can increase stamina and endurance, before winning Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021.

"Close friends were potentially impacted by WADA's failure to follow its own rules in investigating the nearly two dozen positive tests on Chinese swimmers," Phelps testified. "Many of them will live with the 'what ifs' for the rest of their lives."

Schmitt was part of the U.S. 800-meter freestyle relay team that finished a close second to China during the Tokyo games.

"We raced hard. We trained hard. We followed every protocol," Schmitt testified Tuesday. "We accepted our defeat with grace. Many of us will be haunted by this podium finish that may have been impacted by doping."

Chinese officials blamed the banned substance on contaminated food at the athletes' hotel.

"The banned drug, which is only available in pill form, somehow ended up in the kitchen of a hotel the swimmers were staying at," said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who is also the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, as she questioned how WADA could conclude "this explanation was plausible."

Lawmakers are considering withholding funding from WADA following the Chinese swimmers' doping report.

Eleven of the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive before the Tokyo Olympics are slated to compete again in Paris next month.

While WADA was invited to send a representative to the hearing, the agency declined.

"WADA considers it inappropriate to be pulled into a political debate before a U.S. congressional committee regarding a case from a different country, especially while an independent review into WADA's handling of the case is ongoing," the organization said Tuesday in a statement.

"As WADA expected, today's congressional hearing focused on pushing out more misinformation regarding the contamination case from 2021 involving 23 swimmers from China, and causing further damage to WADA's reputation and that of the global anti-doping system," said WADA President Witold Bańka.

"It is not appropriate for anti-doping to be politicized in this way. All it does is weaken confidence in the system, which ultimately does not benefit athletes from the United States or anywhere else," Bańka added. "WADA always endeavors to protect clean sport and treat athletes fairly, regardless of where in the world they are from."

Phelps argued Tuesday that in his Olympic experience, the rules are not applied equally. He testified that he was tested 150 times for performance-enhancing drugs in one year, far more than other countries' athletes.

"If I can control myself and be the best version of myself, that should be enough. And I think people are doing that now and people are cheating, and that needs to change."

As Phelps slammed WADA, he said Americans deserve to watch this summer's Olympic Games without wondering if the competition is rigged.

"As athletes, our faith can no longer be blindly placed in the World Anti-Doping Agency," Phelps said, "an organization that continues to prove that it is either incapable or unwilling to enforce its policies consistently around the world."