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 StatesAntidoping 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 FederalSecurity 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 StatesAntidoping 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 awar