For the opportunity to appear here before you today. Its a privilege to be here to share my thoughts and perspective on the issue of clean sport which is important to so many athletes and the sport in general. 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. Theres 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 and to do it with my wife nicole. But it was also unique because of increased doping concerns. I watched how this affected my teammates and fellow competitors. We all felt the frustration. Looking back over my career, 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 if this uncertainty continues. As a child, i found school difficult. I had adhd which probably contributed to my restlessness. I will never forget being told by one of my teachers that i would never amount to anything. It was swimming that enabled me to see past those challenges and not be defined by them. My mom put my sisters and me in the pool so we would be watersafe. 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 turned 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 work like crazy until i accomplished them. Dreams were just popped into my head whenever 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 a fiveyear 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 part of my hard work and as my hard work and sacrifice began to pay off my confidence grew and i began to feel that if i could dream something, and gave it 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 a hundredth of a second. 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, you will 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, i have 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 tests and competitions, i had to notify usada as to where i was every day so they would be able to conduct random tests outside of competition. This whole process takes a toll. But its absolutely worth it to keep the sport clean and fair. I cant describe how frustrating it is to see other athletes break through performance barriers in unrealistic 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 are eager to sit down and talk with me, and they are always full of questions. Its when i talk about being a kid like them and how this all started with a dream, you see their eyes lighting 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, an Even Stronger drive to work harder than i ever did to do something thats never been done before. For that to happen, he or she must believe they will get a fare opportunity to compete. 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. The time to act is now. We must do what is necessary to ensure the system is fair and reliable so we all can believe in it. Thank you, mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Those were the opening remarks from olympic champion michael phelps, who testified earlier today on the state of the international antidoping system. You can see his entire comments later tonight after the president s address to congress on cspan 2. This weekend, on American History tv on cspan 3, saturday evening at 6 00 p. M. Eastern on the civil war. Grant is going to put his faith in sherman to break out of this trap. Remember they are still inside the city, the confederates are still on the high ground but grants determined now we are going to break out of this. Im going to use sherman to do it. At 8 55, lincoln scholar Howard Holzer on the paintings, sculptures and photographs of president lincoln now on display in the u. S. Capitol. The heroic image that president s present in their lifetime and after inspire, motivate, caution future leaders in the days when before twitter and instantaneous photography which i see going on over here or cspan, these images which look rudimentary and primitive today had enormous power, impact and influence. Sunday at 6 30 p. M. Eastern, International SpyMuseum Historian vince hoten talks about the attempts by the u. S. Government to overthrow or assassinate cuban leader fidel castro. He certainly had a dog in the fight. He was somebody who had been kicked out by castro along with all the casinos and all the mob people. These are the guys you want to be working with. They are the ones that really, really want to get rid of castro. So the cia basically said we got 150,000 on the line, whoever kills castro, the money is theirs. At 8 00 on the presidency, ben stein, former speech writer for president s nixon and ford reflects on nixons time in the white house, his Energy Policies and initiatives in israel and southeast asia. Richard nixon in confused minds of being an antisemite for our complete American History tv schedule, go to cspan. Org. Sunday, in depth features a live conversation with Pulitzer Prize winning author dave barry. During our live discussion, we will take your calls, tweets, emails and facebook questions on mr. Barrys literary career. In 1986, i moved to miami and have been there ever since and carl and i are going to talk about it but its really a good place, if you want to be a humor writ writer, its an excellent place to go. Dave barry has published over 30 books including dave barry slept here, dave barrys greatest hits, and the recently released best state ever, a florida man defends his homeland. Watch in depth live sunday from noon to 3 00 p. M. Eastern on book tv on cspan 2. Next, a discussion on what can be done to help wartorn syria in the future and how the u. S. And russian militaries have played a role in the conflict leading up to now. Brett mcgurke is the special envoy to the Global Coalition to counter isis and was among the panelists at the security Conference Held recently in munich. Its an hour and a half