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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tomorrow, Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), alongside U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ranking Member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security, and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, will hold a virtual press conference to announce bipartisan legislation to bring accountability and transparency to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) following the Chinese doping scandal that occurred during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The members will be joined by Allison Wagner, an Olympic silver medalist and former world-record holder who won multiple silver medals to athletes later proven to have doped, and Greta Neimanas, a two-time Paralympian and long-time advocate for a level playing field for all athletes through anti-doping.
WHEN: Tuesday, July 30 at 9:30 am ET
WHERE: Via Zoom – RSVP to press@blackburn.senate.gov for the link
Background:
- Earlier this year, reporting revealed that 23 top Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine, a powerful performance-enhancing drug, just months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Instead of opening an investigation into the allegations at the time, WADA accepted the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency’s conclusion that the doping was unintentional and caused by food contamination – a theory that many anti-doping experts have questioned.
- Nearly half of these Chinese swimmers went on to win medals at the Olympics, including three golds. American athletes competed and placed behind the swimmers in many of these.
- As the largest global contributor of funds to WADA, American athletes should feel confident in the fairness of global anti-doping policies and enforcement. When the world’s top regulator of anti-doping fails to do its job, the Olympic dream is crushed.
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