Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in the history of the games, told Congress Tuesday that he has suspected others of cheating throughout his 15 years of international competition.
“Throughout my career, I have suspected that some athletes were cheating, and in some cases those suspicions were confirmed,” Phelps told a House subcommittee that was convened Tuesday to talk about the international anti-doping system.
“Given all the testing I, and so many others, have been through I have a hard time understanding this,” he said in his prepared remarks. “In addition to all the tests during competitions, I had to notify [the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency] as to where I would be every day, so they would be able to conduct random tests outside of competition.”
“I don’t believe that I’ve stood up at an international competition and the rest of the field has been clean,” he said later in questioning from lawmakers. “I don’t believe that. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that.”
Phelps said the testing “takes a toll,” but said it’s worthwhile to “keep the sport clean and fair.”
“I can’t adequately describe how frustrating it is to see another athlete break through performance barriers in unrealistic timeframes, knowing what I had to go through to do it,” he said in his prepared remarks. “I watched how this affected my teammates too. Even the suspicion of doping is disillusioning for clean athletes.”
He said it’s also important to keep sports free of performance-enhancing drugs in order to ensure kids are motivated to follow their sports heroes.
“I’d like to think that there’s some boy or girl somewhere now, with an even bigger dream, and even stronger drive to work even harder than I did to do something that’s never been done before,” he said.
“But for that to happen, he must believe he or she will get a fair opportunity to compete,” Phelps said. “If we allow our confidence in fair play to erode, we will undermine the power of sport, and the goals and dreams of future generations.”
He also said that while he was hopeful that tough new anti-doping steps would be in place for his last Olympics in Rio, those efforts fell short.
“In the year leading up to the games, there was uncertainty and suspicion; I, along with a number of other athletes, signed a petition requesting that all athletes be tested in the months prior to the games,” he said. “Unfortunately, the uncertainty remained, even through the games, and I watched how this affected my teammates and fellow competitors.”
“We all felt the frustration, which undermines so much of the belief and confidence we work so hard to build up to prepare for the Olympics,” he told the subcommittee.
