Text: THE STATE OF PLAY: GLOBALIZED CORRUPTION, STATE-RUN DOPING, AND INTERNATIONAL SPORT
[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE STATE OF PLAY: GLOBALIZED CORRUPTION,
STATE-RUN DOPING, AND INTERNATIONAL SPORT
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JULY 25, 2018
__________
Printed for the use of the
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
[CSCE 115-2-5]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via www.csce.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
30-972PDF WASHINGTON : 2018
COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
HOUSE
SENATE
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi,
Co-Chairman Chairman
ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland
ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas CORY GARDNER, Colorado
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee MARCO RUBIO, Florida
RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire
RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois THOM TILLIS, North Carolina
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas TOM UDALL, New Mexico
GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
Vacant, Department of State
Vacant, Department of Commerce
Vacant, Department of Defense
[ii]
THE STATE OF PLAY: GLOBALIZED
CORRUPTION, STATE-RUN DOPING,
AND INTERNATIONAL SPORT
----------
July 25, 2018
COMMISSIONERS
Page
Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Ranking Member, Commission on Security
and Cooperation in Europe...................................... 1
Hon. Michael C. Burgess, Commissioner, Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe.......................................... 6
Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Co-Chairman, Commission on Security
and Cooperation in Europe...................................... 9
Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee, Commissioner, Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe.......................................... 16
WITNESSES
Travis Tygart, CEO, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency...................... 3
Katie Uhlaender, U.S. Olympian................................... 4
Yuliya Stepanova, former Russian Olympian and anti-doping
whistleblower.................................................. 11
Dagmar Freitag, Chairwoman, Sports Committee of the German
Bundestag...................................................... 13
Jim Walden, Partner, Walden Macht & Haran LLP; attorney for Dr.
Grigory Rodchenkov............................................. 14
APPENDIX
Prepared statement of Hon. Michael C. Burgess.................... 33
Prepared statement of Hon. Christopher Smith..................... 36
Prepared statement of Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin.................... 38
Prepared statement of Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee.................... 40
Prepared statement of Travis Tygart.............................. 42
Prepared statement of Katie Uhlaender............................ 47
Prepared statement of Yuliya Stepanova........................... 50
Prepared statement of Dagmar Freitag............................. 53
Prepared statement of Jim Walden................................. 56
THE STATE OF PLAY: GLOBALIZED
CORRUPTION, STATE-RUN DOPING,
AND INTERNATIONAL SPORT
----------
July 25, 2018
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Washington, DC
The hearing was held at 2:12 p.m. in Room 562, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, Hon. Michael C.
Burgess, Commissioner, Commission on Security and Cooperation
in Europe, presiding.
Commissioners present: Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Ranking
Member, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe; Hon.
Michael C. Burgess, Commissioner, Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe; Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Co-Chairman,
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe; and Hon.
Sheila Jackson Lee, Commissioner, Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe.
Witnesses present: Travis Tygart, CEO, U.S. Anti-Doping
Agency; Katie Uhlaender, U.S. Olympian; Yuliya Stepanova,
former Russian Olympian and Anti-doping whistleblower; Dagmar
Freitag, Chairwoman, Sports Committee of the German Bundestag;
and Jim Walden, Partner, Walden Macht & Haran LLP; attorney for
Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov.
HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, RANKING MEMBER, COMMISSION ON SECURITY
AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
Mr. Cardin. [Sounds gavel.] Let me welcome you to this
Helsinki hearing on ``The State of Play: Globalized Corruption,
State-Run Doping, and International Sport.''
On behalf of Senator Wicker, our chairman, Dr. Burgess is
going to be chairing the hearing. The House is a little late
getting here. I'm going to apologize in the beginning. This is
an extremely important hearing, but unknown to us when this
hearing was scheduled, the House has votes scheduled now. Of
course, they're trying to adjourn tomorrow until September. The
Senate is nowhere near as fortunate; we'll be here forever. But
we have votes scheduled at 2:30. And then the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, which I serve on, is holding a hearing
with Secretary of State Pompeo. It's our first opportunity of
any congressional committee to question the Trump
administration on the Helsinki summit with Mr. Putin and the
Singapore summit with Kim Jong-un. So, there's a lot going on
today, and that's just an apology to tell you that there may be
some interruptions in our hearing, and we apologize for that.
But we wanted you to know that this is an extremely important
hearing.
What happened in regards to the doping should not be a
surprise to any of us. It comes right out of Mr. Putin's
playbook. Six months ago, I authored a report on behalf of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee in regards to Mr. Putin's
asymmetrical-arsenal attack against democratic institutions. It
went through a whole host of tools that are used by Mr. Putin,
including the weaponization of corruption, which is exactly
what we saw in the doping issue. We know that Mr. Putin is
interested in winning the battle on form of government. His
main target is Europe, but he's also been very active in the
United States.
But what is less understood is that he uses these weapons
against his own people in order to be able to get the type of
support that he has within the Russian Government. And we saw
that very clearly in regards to the Sochi Olympics. His
popularity before the Sochi Olympics was approximately 54
percent, and it soared to 83 percent after Russia won the most
medals. So clearly this was not done by legitimate methods.
What we need to do to counter what Mr. Putin is doing is in
the report I authored. We need a greater defense against
misinformation. We've got to watch the social media. We've got
to diversify our energy sources. We have to not only enforce
our sanctions but look at stronger sanctions against Russia.
And we need to support those brave people who are the partisans
in Russia that stand up to this type of activity.
That's why we are so pleased to recognize those that have
been on the forefront of standing up to Mr. Putin. I, along
with Senator McCain, the authors of the Sergei Magnitsky law--
Sergei Magnitsky to many of us is a hero. He stood up to
corruption in Russia, representing a client, doing what any
lawyer should do when he discovers corruption: advising the
public, advising the authorities. As a result, as you all know,
he was arrested, tortured, and killed. We passed, with a lot of
leadership through this committee, the Sergei Magnitsky law--
first toward Russia, but later globally, to recognize the
strength of one individual, but recognizing that we need to act
against those who violate basic human rights.
Whistleblowers in Russia are the true patriots of Russia,
and we want you all to know that. I had the opportunity to meet
with Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov when he was here in Washington to
hear firsthand about his efforts in regards to exposing the
doping scheme, and how he discovered it, and what he tried to
do about it, and how they tried to engage him. We certainly
want to welcome all of the witnesses, but I particularly want
to thank Ms. Stepanova for being here today. You are a brave
person, and we thank you very much, and you do represent what
the Russian people need today.
So we welcome all of our witnesses and we look forward to
your testimony.
And, with that, I will start with Mr. Travis Tygart, you
are our first witness. I should have some introduction for you.
Mr. Tygart is the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. We
welcome and look forward to your testimony.
TRAVIS TYGART, CEO, U.S. ANTI-DOPING AGENCY
Mr. Tygart. Thank you, Senator, and good afternoon to you
as well. My name is Travis Tygart, as you've just said, and I'm
the CEO at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, or what is commonly
known as USADA. I want to thank you, but also the other members
of the commission, for their interest in clean sport and for
the opportunity to testify here today.
We have arrived, as you noted, at a critical juncture for
the soul of sport. Fairness and integrity in athletic
competition--two principles at the very heart of why we play--
hang in the balance. They've been abused and they are currently
under attack.
You're going to hear from Yulia, who with powerful dreams
coupled with a nugget of the truth, did the unimaginable by
standing up to Russian thugs and the corruption of sport in her
country. Yulia, like Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, should be thanked
and recognized for their sacrifice for fair play, the rule of
law, literally at the risk of their own lives.
You will also hear about the crushed dreams from American
skeleton athlete Katie Uhlaender, an innocent victim of this
morally bankrupt Russian scheme. Athletes like Yulia and Katie,
and their powerful stories, are our guiding light. They're our
North Star. Their stories give us hope, they remind us of our
purpose, and they provide us the fuel to continue to fight.
Sport is under attack because of the astounding lengths to
which Russia's corrupt system went to deceive and defraud the
world. You've heard the facts: shadow laboratories; tampering
with bottles; and then cyberattacks to smear innocent athletes,
including U.S. athletes, by Russia's intelligence officers;
swapped samples; directives from the sport minister's office
deciding which athletes who doped would be protected.
Unfortunately, when the moment of truth came to confront
this fraud, the International Olympic Committee chose not to
stand up for clean athletes and against institutionalized
doping. The IOC missed or ignored a defining moment to confront
in the clearest way possible the win-at-all-costs behavior that
Russia has perpetrated.
Despite this, however, two silver linings have emerged.
First, athletes are mobilizing for clean sport like never
before. Frankly, we wish more corporations--both sponsors and
broadcasters--that profit off of athletes and from these
competitions would stand up and speak out. Seriously, where are
they? Why aren't they here testifying today?
Second, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to disrupt
entrenched positions for the good to make sure that this kind
of thuggery is never again allowed to rear its ugly head. To
us, it all starts with independence. I've had the privilege to
speak to Congress a few times before about the elements of an
effective program, one to actually win the battle for clean
athletes, not just for sport brand purposes. In the U.S. and in
many countries around the globe, these key elements are part of
the program: year-round testing, no advanced notice, out-of-
competition testing, conducting robust intelligence gathering
and partnerships on investigations with law enforcement. They
have proved successful.
We have long advocated for a clear separation between those
who promote sport and those who police sport. To do so is to
have the fox guard the henhouse. You simply can't both promote
and police. This matter of independence is the most important
issue, we think, facing global sports and anti-doping today.
The good news is that WADA's failed governance model, the
global body overseeing sport, could be fixed immediately by
simply removing the sport leaders from the executive functions
from WADA's leadership. Basically, take the blindfolds off,
take the handcuffs off, and let the global regulator--the
watchdog--actually grow teeth and use them. At least 37
national anti-doping organizations like USADA around the world
support specific proposals to fix these problems, and they're
outlined in the Copenhagen Reform Declaration. And they include
independence; confirming WADA's ability to investigate,
sanction, and monitor compliance; significant and meaningful
recognition of athletes who have lost medals to doped athletes;
and increased support and protection for whistleblowers.
The Russian corruption, and sport's failure to do the right
thing when it mattered and had the chance to do it, is what has
directly led us here today. And it is, frankly, time for us all
who value these principles of fair play to fight back.
We wholeheartedly support the goal of ensuring corrupt
organizations or corrupt governments, like we saw in this
sordid affair, that defraud athletic competitions never happens
again, and ensuring protection for truthful whistleblowers.
Several of these concepts are in the legislation that is before
us. Additionally, we are also ready to assist to help ensure
any legislation that is ultimately passed is precise,
effective, and ultimately successful to protect clean athletes'
rights.
Senator, members of the committee, for those of us who
value the rights of clean athletes and the preservation of a
fair, safe, and healthy playing field, this is the moment. And
it's not just a moment about elite Olympic athletes, but about
every kid on a playground who has an Olympic dream and asks,
what do I have to do to make my dream come true? The truth is,
if we don't push, if we don't win, we will likely find
ourselves back in this same position a few years from now,
staring another state-supported doping system in the face--one
that has abused its athletes and robbed another generation of
clean athletes from what is rightfully theirs. I think we'll
all be wondering at that point why didn't we do more today when
we had the chance.
Thank you.
Mr. Cardin. I thank you very much for your testimony.
Katie Uhlaender, who is a four-time Olympian, world
champion, two-time World Cup champion, six-time world champion
medalist, 11-time World Cup gold medalist, and holds a total of
22 World Cup career medals for the sport of skeleton.
Congratulations on your achievement.
KATIE UHLAENDER, U.S. OLYMPIAN
Ms. Uhlaender. Thank you, sir. Yes, the only medal I'm
missing is the one we're going to discuss today. [Laughter.]
Thank you for the opportunity to be here. It's inspiring to
know that the leaders of our nation have not given up on
protecting athlete rights.
I've dedicated my life to running headfirst onto a sled 80
miles an hour, hurtling down an icy chute with my chin just a
couple inches off the ice, proudly wearing USA on my uniform.
I've competed holding personal growth, integrity, and
character at the forefront of my goals and duties as an
Olympian. I learned these things from my father, who was a
Major League Baseball player. In the 1972 World Series against
the Oakland A's he was presented with the opportunity to take
performance-enhancing drugs and he told me his response was: If
you're at your best, it's enough.
The lesson to me was whatever path I chose in life should
be something of pure grit and all I had to offer. Excuses
should never get in the way of success, and your heart in the
effort will define you. The effort, integrity, and how I pursue
excellence are worth more than the results or the career I
choose. I chose to be an athlete like my father, which actively
delayed my education, finding a home or a career. But my
decision to be an Olympian was one that I saw challenging my
growth, giving me inspiration that was also an opportunity to
inspire those around me. It's a noble path that allows iron to
sharpen iron, and one that I believe honors my father's legacy,
what he taught me, my country, and God. And giving the Olympic
movement all I have is the way to do that.
Sport is a space in which all races, political parties, and
nations come together. The Olympics hold their participants to
a higher standard than any other place, and I'm an ambassador
for my country and for that movement that touches the world.
I'm not government funded. [Laughs.] I don't have any
sponsorship. There's very little money to be made essentially
racing a super-fast American Flyer down an icy chute. [Laughs.]
None of the challenges I've faced have deterred me from my
dream or grit. It's a privilege to compete for the United
States.
The dream, though, was to one day stand on the podium--
sorry, it's emotional----
Mr. Cardin. That's all right.
Ms. Uhlaender.----to see my country's flag raised, and be
able to say thank you to the people that supported me and
helped me get there, the people that believe in pursuing
excellence over glory.
But my moment was stolen--oh my goodness, sorry----
Mr. Cardin. Take your time.
Ms. Uhlaender. The glory was in my effort, and I truly
believe that medal is not mine. My joy is to get to put my best
steps forward. The medal was America's.
I fell short of that opportunity in Sochi at the Olympics.
I missed it by four-hundredths of a second over four miles.
That's quicker than you can blink. I lost to a Russian named in
the McLaren Report who benefited from the state conspiracy. Due
to a lack of enforcement, she and Russia have kept the medal.
When The New York Times revealed the extent of the state-
sponsored conspiracy, my heart broke. This was a defining
moment for all involved. A line was crossed. It erased the
meaning of sport and the Olympics as I knew it. But I resolved
that I had done all I could with integrity and I couldn't lose
twice.
But I was wrong. The IOC stripped the medals from those
named in the McLaren Report in November 2017 and I was a bronze
medalist. It felt like the good guy could win. But 6 weeks
later, the day I arrived at my fourth Olympic Games, they
announced the Court of Arbitration overturned that decision and
gave the medals back to Russia and that athlete. I was no
longer a bronze medalist and now had lost twice at the same
Olympics. No one is disputing Russia's conspiracy to cheat, the
fraud, or doping. And yet, nothing was done to protect the
athletes or prevent this from happening again.
I don't know how, in light of all the evidence presented,
that there was no accountability held. All of the virtues I was
taught to hold above all else were left standing alone, without
support, seeming no longer valuable to the Olympic movement--
and it scares me.
As an athlete, I've done all I can. I compete with
integrity. I represent my nation. I will continue to do so with
honor and show gratitude for the opportunity to represent my
nation.
It seems clean athletes like myself have no choice but to
turn to you, the leaders of our nation, for help. We need help
protecting the ideals that passed from my father to myself and
the things that children are raised believing to inspire them
to a lifetime of dedication and self-belief, the self-belief
that creates American heroes.
So thank you for your time. I'm sorry for the tears.
Mr. Cardin. Well, you know, thank you for the moments you
gave to our country. We can only imagine how hard the work is
to train and to be at your best, and to know that you're a
winner but for the doping it's not been recognized. It's very
difficult. But we're very proud of you sticking to your
principles and doing everything you could to represent our
nation with great pride and dignity. So thank you very much.
I'm going to turn the gavel over to Dr. Burgess. As I said
earlier, there are votes currently on the floor of the U.S.
Senate and then there's the hearing with Secretary of State
Pompeo, so I will not be able to return. But I want to thank
all of you for participating in this hearing. This is an
extremely important hearing and we appreciate your
participation.
HON. MICHAEL C. BURGESS, COMMISSIONER, COMMISSION ON SECURITY
AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
Mr. Burgess. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm just proud to
know you have votes on the Senate floor from time to time.
Mr. Cardin. [Laughs.] It happens every once in a while. Not
too often.
Mr. Burgess. And my apologies to the witnesses. We had
votes on the House floor called right before the top of the
hour.
Chairman Cardin has already called the meeting to order.
And let me just pause from your statements. I have a statement
that I'm going to make. And if we're joined by any other House
members we'll allow them an opportunity to make their
statements as well.
This commission is mandated to monitor compliance with
commitments freely undertaken by the participating States of
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, given
the size and scope of the Russian state-run doping program and
the rampant corruption corroding the integrity of international
sport, we are compelled to speak out and to take action. In May
2014, Ms. Yuliya Stepanova, who we are pleased to have with us
today, appeared on German TV and blew the whistle on Russian
state-run doping program. This led to the formation of an
independent commission through the World Anti-Doping Agency,
which investigated Ms. Stepanova's claims and found that a
deeply rooted culture of cheating exists in Russia.
The fallout of this report in Russia eventually led Dr.
Grigory Rodchenkov, fearing retaliation from President Putin,
to flee Russia for the United States, where he revealed an
astonishing amount of data and detail on Russia's state-run
doping program that he accumulated while the head of the Moscow
anti-doping lab. A New York Times expose laid bare the
unprecedented extent and complexity of an illegal program that
sought to swing many international sports in favor of the
Russians. This was accomplished through an elaborate scheme
which involved numerous Russian state agencies, including the
Russian Ministry of Sport and the FSB, the successor to the
former Soviet KGB.
From 2011 to 2015, over 1,000 Russian athletes in 30 sports
benefited from the coverup operation, to the detriment of
athletes who were not so involved. President Putin himself
ordered the state-run doping program in order to drum up
support for oppression at home and aggression abroad. To
President Putin, international sport is not a competition
between skilled individuals but a geopolitical tool equal to
Russia's use for corruption in energy availability and
disinformation to influence other states and the population at
home. Those who attempt to challenge this state-run apparatus
are fighting a losing battle. It is only thanks to
whistleblowers like Ms. Stepanova and Dr. Rodchenkov that we
have any idea of the enormity of the Russian state-run doping
operation.
The World Anti-Doping Agency, while it has done what it
can, has a budget of $30 million a year, and is going up
against a well-funded state conspiracy. Moreover, after years
of mounting evidence, the only significant action taken by the
International Olympic Committee has been the suspension of
Russia from the Pyeongchang Olympic Games, a suspension that
has already been lifted. In addition, Russian athletes were
still allowed to compete under the Olympic flag. As was written
in The Economist: ``The World Anti-Doping Agency is wielding a
knife in a highly charged arms race. Even when it finds clear
evidence of systematic doping, as it did in Russia, there is no
guarantee that the International Olympic Commission will act on
it quickly or decisively.''
Clearly, a new approach is needed to counter this method of
authoritarian influence.
That's why I, along with my fellow commissioner from Texas,
Sheila Jackson Lee, introduced the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act.
This act would criminalize doping at international competitions
in which the United States participates, so as to provide a
deterrent against those who would engage in doping fraud. It
would put every Russian doping facilitator on notice that their
name may appear in a U.S. indictment should they attempt to
defraud athletes in the future.
We have already heard some of the testimony from a
distinguished panel today, who will provide valuable insight
into the state of international sport and what can be done to
counter corruption and state-run doping. We are particularly
pleased to have with us today Mr. Travis Tygart, the CEO of the
U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, or USADA. Mr. Tygart has led the USADA
through some of its most impactful efforts to keep
international sport free of doping. It has been notably
instrumental in Operation Raw Deal, one of the largest
international steroid busts in history, as well as the
investigation of the BALCO labs conspiracy, in which the San
Francisco lab supplied performance-enhancing drugs to
professional athletes. Mr. Tygart also led the agency's
investigation in the U.S. Postal Service pro-cycling team
doping conspiracy and spearheaded the publication of the recent
decision in the Lance Armstrong case.
Next, and I think we've already heard from, is Katie
Uhlaender. Ms. Uhlaender is a U.S. Olympian who has won five
medals at the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation.
She has won three bronze medals, a silver medal, and in 2012 a
gold medal--winning her first skeleton world championship. She
has also won the Women's Skeleton World Cup twice.
Congratulations on your victories. We are grateful to have you
represent us and the United States of America at the Olympics.
Following Katie, Yuliya Stepanova will share her
experiences with us. Ms. Stepanova is a world-class Russian
athlete and an anti-doping whistleblower. Vitaly Stepanov, her
husband, is a former employee of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency
and witnessed firsthand the Russian state doping program. Mrs.
Stepanova bravely began collecting evidence by recording
conversations with fellow athletes and coaches and uncovered a
large-scale doping fraud. Yuliya and her husband currently
reside in the United States after receiving death threats. We
thank you and your husband for your courage to speak out.
Dagmar Freitag, who we are very honored to have with us
today, will provide her perspective from the German Bundestag.
Ms. Freitag is the chairwoman of the Sports Committee and is an
expert in combating doping at both national and international
levels. She has been part of the Bundestag since 1994 and
became chairwoman of the Sports Committee in 2009. Most
recently, Ms. Freitag has become the deputy chairwoman of the
German-U.S. Parliamentary Friendship Group. Ms. Freitag, we are
grateful for your being with us on this side of the Atlantic
today.
Finally, we will hear from Jim Walden, the attorney for Dr.
Grigory Rodchenkov. Unfortunately, Dr. Rodchenkov himself is
unable to be with us here today due to the ever present threat
of Russian retaliation against him. Mr. Walden is a partner at
Walden, Macht & Haran. He participated in a Helsinki Commission
briefing on the Russian state doping program back in February
and has been a constant source of insight on these issues.
Thank you for being here and representing the doctor today.
Again, thank you all for being here and participating this
afternoon. Let me recognize the exalted chairman for life of
the Helsinki Commission--[laughter]--Chris Smith of New Jersey
for his opening statement.
HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, CO-CHAIRMAN, COMMISSION ON SECURITY
AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
Mr. Smith. I want to thank Dr. Burgess for his opening and
for his leadership. He also is the chair of the Health
Committee for Energy and Commerce. So nothing happens in the
area of health care without that man taking a lead on it. So we
thank you for that leadership, which has been extraordinary.
Welcome, everyone. Athletic doping obviously is really a
low. That anyone can cheat in a competition and then take any
satisfaction or pride in winning is really beyond
comprehension, to say nothing of the profound unfairness of the
other competitors and fans and damage to the sport itself, but
state-run doping compounds these injustices with serious human
rights violations. It naturally leads to pressuring athletes to
dope and threatening the whistleblowers. I want to thank Yuliya
Stepanova and Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, represented here today by
Jim Walden, for their remarkable courage in revealing the
Russian Government state-run doping program, as well as they
have done.
It is not only the rest of the world, but Russia itself is
indebted to them. In blowing the whistle on what their
government was doing to cheat in international sporting events,
they acted as true patriots. For any country, it is better to
lose a medal than to lose the country's honor. This state-run
doping campaign is totally unworthy of the great spiritual
heritage of Russia, and takes something away from every Russian
person, as it makes it impossible for them to take an honest
and natural pride in their country's performance in sporting
events.
Since this hearing addresses globalized corruption in
sport, I would like to mention a whistleblower who is not here
with us today, Dr. Xue, a Chinese doctor who worked with
China's Olympic team in the 1980s, and at one point served as
the chief medical supervisor to the Chinese gymnastic team. Dr.
Xue claims that 10,000 athletes--let me say that again--10,000
athletes were involved in a Chinese state-run doping program
during the 1980s and 1990s. They had to accept the drugs, she
says, or ``face punishment or criticism.'' She adds, ``If you
refused to dope, you had to leave the team.'' She also
discussed the abhorrent practice of doping young athletes, as
young as 11 years old, resulting in devastating physical
effects. Given the extent of the program, she concludes that
all medals won by China at this time should be returned.
Like too many whistleblowers, however, she has been forced
to flee her home for fear of retaliation. I would note,
parenthetically, in addition to the Helsinki Commission I also
chair the China Commission. We have raised these issues at
hearings in the past. Again, the price that she has paid is
huge, but she nevertheless has been a whistleblower. She has
commented, ``Anyone against doping damaged the country, and
anybody who endangered the country now sits in prison in the
PRC.'' She is now seeking asylum in Germany. It would be a
terrible thing if her claim were to be denied and she is forced
to return to China. As we are greatly honored by Dagmar
Freitag, a German member of the Bundestag and chairwoman of the
Bundestag Sports Committee, who is with us today, I would also
ask her to check into the good doctor's fate, particularly in
this asylum claim.
And I yield back to my distinguished chairman.
Mr. Burgess. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for
being here today, Mr. Chairman. Since we had votes on the House
floor, Chairman Cardin had actually called the hearing to
order. And I came in as Ms. Uhlaender was finishing her
statement. Of course, we have your written statements, but who
else has already provided statements? If either of you would
just summarize for Chairman Smith and I just the key points
from your testimony of which you want us to be aware, and then
we can hear from the other witnesses. Mr. Tygart, why don't we
do to you first?
Mr. Tygart. Without re-reading my testimony, I think the
key points are obviously that it's well known Russia corrupted
the games and international competition like we've never seen
before. The International Olympic Committee, as well as the
World Anti-Doping Agency, didn't handle it effectively in our
opinion, most importantly, because they're conflicted. It's the
fox guarding the henhouse. You can't both promote and police.
The IOC had an interest in the decision to sanction or not the
Russia state-sponsored doping and chose not to put any
meaningful sanctions in place.
It's time to act. These sports organizations are beyond the
long arm of most jurisdictions. And it's time to act and ensure
that athletes like Katie Uhlaender and their rights are
protected in a more effective way, and that these types of
totalitarian states don't get away with corrupting the games
that we love and cherish so much.
Mr. Burgess. Thank you. And thank you for recapitulating
that. Ms. Uhlaender, again, I came in as you were finishing
your testimony. And I appreciate that it was significantly
emotional for you. But if there are any points you want to
recapitulate for Chairman Smith and myself.
Ms. Uhlaender. Thank you so much for the opportunity to do
that. I'll try to do it without tears this time.
I'm a four-time Olympian. My father was a Major League
Baseball player who instilled all my virtues and ethics and
perseverance and approach to life, essentially. One of the most
memorable moments I remember him telling me about is when he
played with the Big Red Machine in 1972. And he was on his way
out to the field, and a teammate gave him the opportunity to
take a performance-enhancing drug. And he said: ``When you're
at your best, it's enough. We're at the World Series.'' That
lesson, to me, was that the substance you give, your grit and
the effort, are where the glory lies. The results and the
medals are the those that are supporting you and helped you get
there.
I don't know if you know this, but I missed a medal by
four-hundredths of a second in the Sochi Olympics. I missed
that medal to a Russian athlete named in the McLaren Report who
benefited from the conspiracy. And yet, despite all the
evidence that no one is disputing--everyone seems to agree
there was a conspiracy to cheat, there was doping, and there
was fraud, but there's no accountability. She currently still
holds the medal, along with Russia.
However, the process in which this has unfolded has been
extremely dramatic. I lost once, and I had resolved that I
couldn't lose twice. Then the IOC stripped the medals from
Russia in November 2017. So I was a bronze medalist. And for a
second, I thought that the good guy had won. I had missed the
opportunity to stand on the podium and say thank you to all
those that supported me and helped me get there. But in the
end, it felt like we had won something bigger than just a
medal. But that was short-lived.
The day I arrived at the Olympics in South Korea, they gave
the medal back. They overruled that decision. I have to say,
that was a gut punch. It felt worse than the first time,
because it crushed the spirit of sport for more than just
myself. What concerns me the most is that there are policies
and rules in place. Everyone agrees the rules were broken, but
nothing has been done about it. I don't understand the lack of
enforcement.
I think that this is a pinnacle moment in history where the
athletes like myself are having to turn to the leaders of our
government and ask for help to enforce these rules. The reason
why it's so scary is I look at examples of the youth and junior
athletes. If there are no consequences to doping, what's to
stop Russians or another nation from forcing young athletes to
dope that changes the course of their lives forever, with no
consequence to the sport? But once they're done, there's no one
to protect their lives. There's no one to explain to them that
what they're doing is hurting themselves.
By Russia keeping the medals, it scares me. No
accountability. No protection. And nothing to stop it from
happening again. So thank you for the opportunity to discuss
this and uphold the ideals that my father taught me, and also
that create American heroes.
Mr. Burgess. Well, thank you so much for being with us
today and, again for reprising the testimony. And I'll
apologize for Chairman Smith for being late. He'll never do it
again. [Laughter.]
Mr. Smith. We did have votes.
Mr. Burgess. We did have votes.
Yuliya Stepanova, you have not testified yet. We have
written testimony. Are you wishing to give a statement? Please
proceed.
YULIYA STEPANOVA, WORLD-CLASS RUSSIAN ATHLETE AND ANTI-DOPING
WHISTLEBLOWER
Ms. Stepanova. Thank you very much for inviting me to share
with you some of my journey as an elite track and field athlete
inside of Russia's doping system, and now a whistleblower
hoping to make sport clean. I would like to begin by
apologizing about my past. Unfortunately, I cannot change my
past. I was in the Russian doping system. I cheated and now I
am talking about it. When I was 14 years old, I watched the
2000 Olympics. When watching Russian athletes compete, I looked
at them as gods, as people out of this world. They were my
heroes and I wanted to represent my home country just like
them.
I started training competitively when I was 17 years old.
When I was 20, my coach started giving me testosterone. That's
where it began. I was soon doing EPO injection, taking oral
Turinabol, and more. In the spring of 2012, I started to feel
pain my thigh. The pain got stronger every day, but I kept
training. Soon, I had to stop running as it was painful to
walk. My coach wanted to help me recover faster and advised me
to do infusions with Creatinol-O-phosphate sodium and Mydocalm.
So I infused the substances. Shortly after, my heart rate
started to increase rapidly. My heart was beating stronger and
stronger every second. I was scared. The ambulance came, and
they injected something to get my heart rate down. I survived
the effect of these drugs. After this, I was scared to do
injections on my own.
Today, I still have health problems after using all these
substances. My ferritin level is 20 times more than it should
be, and I have a stone in the right buttock from doing iron
injections the wrong way. Doctor said that my training helps me
to use extra ferritin from my body, but when I stopped I have
to find a solution or I could die from iron poisoning.
When in the beginning of 2013 I was facing a ban, Vitaly,
my husband, offered me a choice. I could act like most of my
teammates did--cry and continue to listen to the lies of the
Russian sports officials--or we could try to fight the system
together. The Russian doping system does not hate people that
stay in this system and get caught. It hates people that fight
the system. We decided to fight it. We are now traitors to
Russia, but we know we are doing the right thing. From the
beginning, it was our hope to get more people to tell the
truth, but we understand those that do not become
whistleblowers, as the fight against corruption in Russian
sports is not easy.
You will lose your job, your career, and fear for your
life. You will be called a liar and a traitor. I could never
imagine that we would get this far in raising our concerns
about the doping situation in Russia. We were not able to find
much support inside of Russia, but we were happy to see that
most Russian sports officials were not right. Not every
country's goal is to cover up doping use of athletes of their
own country. In fact, rules do matter and ethics matters in
sports. We are glad that the problem in Russian sports is being
discussed globally and the fight is not over yet. The best part
for us was to learn that there are people that care about fair
competition. We just wish those people were louder and
stronger.
I believe that criminalizing doping and strongly punishing
those that cheat in Olympic sports is a necessary step to make
sports better. We, as parents, deserve to know that our
children that participate on any level of competition are in
safe hands and gaining positive and ethical experiences. Sports
officials, coaches, managers, doctors, and anyone that decides
to take advantage of our children, the Olympic values and anti-
doping rules, must be strongly punished and banned from sports
for life.
Thank you.
Mr. Burgess. Thank you, Yuliya. Thank you for your powerful
testimony.
Ms. Freitag, let's turn to you next. And you're recognized
for an opening statement, please.
DAGMAR FREITAG, CHAIRWOMAN, SPORTS COMMITTEE OF THE GERMAN
BUNDESTAG
Ms. Freitag. Chairman Burgess, Congressman Smith, ladies
and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me. It's my pleasure to
be part of this hearing which focuses on strategic and legal
approaches to fight globalized corruption and doping in
international sport. My presentation, my remarks are based on
my personal and professional experiences gained as member of
the German Parliament, as chairperson of the Sports Committee,
as longstanding vice president of the German Track and Field--
that means Athletics Federation--and member of the Authority
Board of Germany's national anti-doping agency.
Ladies and gentlemen, the reputation of international
sports organizations is simply disastrous. Doping, bribery,
manipulation--all this massively damages the integrity of
sports and undermines its values. In simple words, we must
stand up to international rule breaking. As we witness global
sport bodies failing to protect the sports they represent, we
as politicians--from my point of view--have to set up an
effective framework, regulated by law. By doing so, take the
lead to fight the various threats in sport.
Sport and sports organizations are at least, more or less,
unable to protect themselves. And I think this should not go
unmentioned, in most cases they are recognizably unwilling to
do what they could do. Moreover, we have to face the fact that
some sports organizations protect or even blackmail cheating
athletes. One of the worst examples was former President Lamine
Diack in his term of office in the IAAF, the International
Association of Athletics Federations. When the Russian doping
system was uncovered, the International Olympic Committee, IOC,
showed, from my point of view, a significant lack of
leadership.
But even those organizations that are willing to take every
step necessary to fight doping and corruption in sport at some
point have to realize that their means are simply limited. Not
only resources--for example, the number, intensity, and
intelligence of doping tests may be limited. They simply don't
have the tools state prosecutors and police bodies have. To
make it clear, to root out doping and corruption in sport, not
only international cooperation but also national laws are
useful and necessary.
Just to name a few examples, referring to the doping cases
of Marion Jones or Lance Armstrong, USADA and the U.S. law
enforcement agencies have really done a great job uncovering
the network behind the athletes. It could become a great
success, as existing U.S. laws allow close cooperation between
authorities and the USADA. U.S. legal authorities used the
Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act to uncover
FIFA's various corruption cases.
Ladies and gentlemen, for many reasons I support the
proposed bill, the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act. From my point of
view, it's a major step forward in the international fight
against doping. Let me point out two important aspects. Section
7, statute of limitations, defines that no civil suit may be
brought unless brought within 10 years after the offense was
completed. As urine and/or blood samples are frozen or stored
for up to 10 years and can be reanalyzed, it is consistent that
the limitation period does not go below. Should the IOC, the
World Anti-Doping Agency, or whatever organization extend that
period, it might be useful, of course, to mirror that progress
in the law as well.
I also recognize that retaliation shall be unlawful. We all
know about individuals who were put under pressure, for
example, and forced to keep secrets. Some of those who resisted
and testified became outlaws in the world of sports. We have to
protect brave whistleblowers, like Yuliya, and penalize
individuals who threaten or retaliate, but let me also mention
that I suggest to supplement the definition of doping fraud.
Section 3 defines that a doping fraud means the use of any
performance-enhancing drugs. In my understanding, it does not
include manipulation of blood and blood components, chemical
and physical manipulation, or gene doping, named as M1, M2, and
M3 in the WADA's listing of prohibited methods. Section 3 also
defines that the list of performance enhancing drugs shall be
specified by the secretary of health and human science on the
basis of scientific and international sports standards. From my
point of view, it might be more useful to refer to the World
Anti-Doping Code and the prohibited list.
Ladies and gentlemen, fighting doping, manipulation,
bribery, for example, in sport is a global challenge, and can
only be effectively counteracted by implementing and executing
legislation. I'm pretty sure that athletes would think twice
about doping if they would risk going to prison because of
that, compared to just a temporary ban from sport events. Being
imprisoned makes really a difference.
Ladies and gentlemen, some final remarks. In some
countries, anti-doping regimes are far more vigorous than in
others. Though the discussion is really not new, we are still
facing a worldwide discrepancy in anti-doping legislation. We
also have to globally promote coordinated anti-doping
legislation as a response to counter the threat of cheating.
There are several efforts on the political stage. I know a
variety of international declarations and resolutions targeting
the protection of integrity and good governance in sport.
Ladies and gentlemen, let's continue this fight. Let's do
our very best for the sake of the clean athletes. It's really
time to act.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Burgess. Thank you, Representative Freitag.
Mr. Walden, were you planning on giving an opening
statement? Can I ask you to suspend for one moment, and we've
been joined by Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, and did you wish to
give an opening statement?
Ms. Jackson Lee. I will go after him, Mr. Chairman. Thank
you so very much.
Mr. Burgess. OK. All right. Mr. Walden, please proceed.
Mr. Walden. Chairman Smith, Representative Jackson Lee--let
me turn my mic on so you can hear me.
Mr. Burgess. Good plan.
JIM WALDEN, PARTNER, WALDEN MACHT & HARAN LLP AND ATTORNEY FOR
DR. GRIGORY RODCHENKOV
Mr. Walden. Thank you very much for having me here. I've
been honored to consult with the Helsinki Commission during the
drafting of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2018. I know,
because I spoke to him just today, that Dr. Rodchenkov very
much wishes that circumstances were different, and he could be
here with you. But he wanted me to make sure to convey his deep
gratitude for the meeting he had with you, for the seriousness
with which this committee has taken this subject, and for your
leadership against doping fraud.
So let's be clear. When we talk about doping, the
commission is absolutely right to consider this doping fraud.
It's doping fraud because you heard the words from Ms.
Uhlaender, who was defrauded from her medal. The IOC doesn't
give purse money for medals, but many countries--including the
United States--does. And Ms. Uhlaender could not qualify for a
U.S. purse because she was cheated from her medal. Ms.
Uhlaender cannot get lucrative endorsements because she was
cheated of her medal. And sponsoring corporations put millions
of dollars into sponsoring the Olympics. They all have anti-
doping provisions in their endorsement contracts and they are
defrauded as well. I don't need to tell this commission that
these frauds matter.
Who should be protecting against all of this criminality?
Unfortunately, as we've heard from other panelists, that job
has fallen to weak self-policing by the International Olympic
Committee and other international federations that have neither
the tools nor, frankly, the will to address the long-standing
and well-known problem. In fact, some of them are conspirators
themselves. Dr. Rodchenkov disclosed that Russia paid hundreds
of thousands of dollars in bribe money to the International
Biathlon Union in order to cover up Russian doping. That
evidence, together with other evidence, has now led to a major
investigation, headed by criminal authorities in Germany,
Austria, and Norway. And the head of the IBU has now been
forced to step down.
But, thankfully, even though we've been faced by weak-kneed
responses by the IOC and other international federations, other
countries have stepped into the breach, passing their own anti-
doping laws and creating criminal penalties. Italy, Austria,
France, and recently Germany have been leaders. And, frankly,
the Austrians have been extremely aggressive, convicting two
top sports managers and one team doctor for engaging in a
doping conspiracy. But I certainly agree with the Helsinki
Commission that the time is now for the U.S. to enter into a
leadership position.
And it's not merely because doping victimizes athletes like
Ms. Uhlaender and corporations--although that's reason enough
to pass this bill. It is because doping fraud is just another
mechanism for global animosity toward the United States and,
more importantly, the affliction of widespread criminality
because, as Ms. Freitag said, doping fraud is just one part of
the criminal bundle that you get with doping fraud. You get
racketeering. You get drug dealing. You get bribery. And you
get other forms of corruption, including most recently hacking
which, as you know, Fancy Bear inflicted not just on athletes,
but on WADA itself during WADA's investigation, and leaking
information that they thought would help Russia.
Now, there are some in our government who refuse to
confront Russia for its abject criminality. But simple decency
compels us to enhance and enforce legal rights and remedies to
protect clean athletes. After all, doping fraud is just one
more export of the gangster state that Vladimir Putin has
created in Russia. And despite the fact that the world has not
stood up to the well-documented and well-known crimes of the
Russian Federation, thankfully the Helsinki Commission has. And
this bill gives American prosecutors, clean athletes, and
whistleblowers the tools that they need to protect the rest of
us from these evils.
Quite clearly then, the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act fills a
very important void, giving the Department of Justice long-
armed jurisdiction for the first time to do what other laws and
regulations simply can't do. And of special note, making
retaliation against whistleblowers in sports a criminal
offense, and affording them remedies through civil process, is
simply a game changer. It will allow other whistleblowers to
come forward so that other acts of corruption can be exposed to
the sanitizing rays of sunlight.
If the commission will, to close, I'd like to read a short
statement directly from Dr. Rodchenkov that he gave me this
morning:
``Again, I wish to apologize to the world for my part in
the Russian state-sponsored doping system. During the time I
ran the Moscow lab, my orders came from the top of the Russian
Federation. Putin said, Russia must win at any cost, and the
Sports Ministry executed that command by substantially
improving our ability to administer performance-enhancing drugs
in secret. To refuse to go along would have been a death
sentence. I hope that my difficult decision to come forward and
tell the truth will lead to continuing reforms. I believe the
Helsinki Commission's leadership is critical. And I fully
support the proposed legislation. I am humbled and grateful
that the bill is named after me. And I hope I can continue to
be a force for good.''
Thank you.
Mr. Burgess. Thank you, Mr. Walden. Please convey our
thanks to Dr. Rodchenkov as well.
And we're pleased to recognize Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas.
HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE, COMMISSIONER, COMMISSION ON SECURITY
AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
Today, more than any other day, I'm pleased to be a
Helsinki Commissioner and to respond to the call that is an
international call, but it is a call for humanity. I'm
delighted to join Dr. Burgess in co-sponsoring legislation
named after Rodchenkov and his years of, I would say, pain,
without him knowing it, and now his effort to remedy, to fix,
to make amends, to have a reformational change.
I want to acknowledge the witnesses first, before I begin.
Thank you, Jim Walden, for indicating Russia's place in all of
this, and reading the doctor's letter that indicated that
Russia believed they must win no matter what, and for those who
refused it was a death sentence. Maybe even those in the clinic
or lab, but as well maybe even the athletes. It is important to
take note of Mr. Tygart, who represents us on the U.S. Anti-
Doping Agency. We thank you for your service.
And, again, thank you to Katie Uhlaender for, first of all,
representing your nation and doing the very best that you
could. For us, you are a medal winner. And thank you for being
here today. Let me thank Yuliya Stepanova, who doped and has
now come forward to admit, along with her husband, that she is
part of the reformation of international athletics, and
certainly the Olympics. And I thank you to Ms. Freitag, I
believe, for the words that you have offered us by saying that
we have to get even stronger on these issues.
It is amazing. I think everyone sitting here--my
colleagues, our Senate colleagues--everyone considers
themselves a sports aficionado. And even if they did not play,
they take on the armor or the image of athletes who are
performing. Sometimes professional sports was--many of you
know, I'm sure you've seen video of Americans looking at their
professional sports team--but then, of course, there is a
special love for our amateur athletics, because there's a sense
of patriotism and sacrifice that these young people make.
So doping fraud is a crime in which big money, state assets
and transnational criminals are involved and honest athletes
and sponsors are defrauded and abused. Nowhere is this clearer
than in the Russian doping scandal, where agents of Russia's
FSB, the successor of the Soviet KGB, and other state agencies
colluded to systematically cheat the Olympics over the years.
That's why I am pleased to join Dr. Burgess in the legislation
that we've introduced. As discussed in the Oscar-winner
documentary, ``Icarus,'' they did this to shore up support for
Putin's kleptocratic regime, which steals in Russia and spends
in the West, all while engaging in acts of blatant aggression
against its neighbors.
Athletes caught up in doping fraud stand to lose out not
only on their life's ambition, but also on the prize money and
sponsorships that sustain their livelihood. Because I'm a
strong supporter of young people no matter what country they're
in, I would offer to say that athletes, if left to their own
devices, want to be honest and competitive. And so I consider
in some instances the Russian athletes as victims as well. We
need to help the whole international arena.
Take the case of Alysia Montano, a U.S. runner who competed
in the 2012 summer Olympics. She finished fifth, with two
Russian women in the first and third. These women were later
found to have engaged in doping fraud by the World Anti-Doping
Agency, WADA, which means that Ms. Montano had rightfully
finished third. She would have medaled. She estimates that
doping fraud cost her maybe half a million dollars, if you look
at rollovers and bonuses. And that's without outside
sponsorship maybe coming in. She adds, ``That's not why you're
doing it, but you still deserve it.''
Then there is the simple emotional aspect of being told,
only years later, that you were cheated out of your victory. In
the case of a U.S. bobsledder, Steve Holcomb, he was not even
around to see it, having died before his two medals were
upgraded from bronze to silver. His teammate, Steve Langton,
commented: It's definitely a little bittersweet that Holcomb
isn't here to see this happening. He worked hard, and he earned
those medals. It would have been very nice if he had a chance
to enjoy them.
I'm grateful to have Katie Uhlaender here with us today.
And I appreciate your story. I'm also grateful for Ms.
Stepanova, and Mr. Walden as well. We thank Ms. Stepanova for
her bravery. And again, as I indicated earlier, I hope that
many more Russian athletes--but I know that they too might be
considered victims. And we hope that your courage will allow
them to come forward. We thank the doctor for the work that he
has done, and Mr. Walden for the work that you have done with
him. He is a courageous individual. He is whistleblowing--his
whistleblowing has strengthened the global fight against
corruption in international sport and elsewhere. We hope our
legislation will be an anchor in the United States to protect
him.
We hope that many others who know the ins and outs of
Putin's corrupt system will come forward. We thank you for
acknowledging the Helsinki Commission. In our last visit to the
Helsinki Commission international meeting in Berlin, Germany--I
can assure you that the U.S. delegation was very strong on
these issues, among others. But certainly countries from around
the world were aware of the work we need to do in this area.
My fellow commissioners and I have set out to stop the
injustices occurring to athletes and to protect whistleblowers
with the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act--hoping I've gotten his
name somewhat close. This long overdue piece of legislation
establishes criminal penalties and civil remedies for a doping
fraud at major international competitions. It also prohibits
retaliation against whistleblowers. And it is unfortunate that
such legislation has become necessary. But I would say that
it's vital that it pass as soon as possible. International
sports bodies have proven time and again that they're not
adequately able to investigate and deter doping fraud. I hope
we give them a green light--and maybe a red light to stop what
they are doing, and a green light to make changes. Doping fraud
should matter to any sports fan and anyone who cares about fair
play. I welcome the fact that we are having this hearing. I
hope that this will be an inspiration to the House and the
Senate to pass this legislation as quickly as possible.
I do want to make one point on the record, and that is that
we know that there is an opinion piece that has circulated that
offers an individual's perspective on Dr. Rodchenkov. I would
only say that most of what is in the opinion case is in the
public forum, is in the documentary--which was well-received
with many awards. It is a difficult journey for whistleblowers.
Sometimes they do not get the flowers that they deserve. Every
opinion writer has the right to express his or her opinion.
That is the nature of our nation and the freedom of speech. But
I am glad that we have a whistleblower who was willing to step
in, maybe in jeopardy of his life. And I'm glad to be with
Members of Congress who will step in and speak to Russia
forthrightly and without fear, maybe where it has not been done
in other spaces.
So the opinion piece is there. Our work is continuing. And
we are delighted to be able to move this legislation forward in
a bipartisan manner. And I feel confident that we will work
with our colleagues, and they will see the importance of this
legislation to move it as quickly as possible. And I thank the
chairman for yielding. And I thank you, Dr. Burgess, for
joining us on this legislation.
Thank you.
Mr. Burgess. I want to thank the gentlelady from Texas.
And, again, thanks to our witnesses for being here today.
We'll move into the interactive portion of the hearing, the
question and answer. Let me turn first to Chairman Smith for
questions.
Mr. Smith. Thank you, Chairman. I appreciate it, Dr.
Burgess.
Thank you, again, for your tremendous testimonies and your
courage to be here. But, more importantly, to raise your voices
knowing that especially back in Russia there is a retaliation.
And so we're all very grateful for your willingness to be so
candid and upfront here in Washington.
Let me just ask a couple of questions. So much of your
testimony anticipated, I think, what we would want to know. And
I thank you for the comprehensiveness of those testimonies. We
all know that Lance Armstrong was tested like 250 times. And
when he was detected he said it was inflammatory. And it
somehow got out from under each and every time. The new drugs
we believe were designer drugs, maybe you can elaborate on
them--are they designed to be undetectable? And if you could
just tell us what those drugs are, how they work, and how do
they become undetectable? And are there strategies to surface
them and make them detectable so that in a very systematic way
we can know whether or not they're being taken?
What are the risks to athletes who take these drugs in the
short, intermediate, and long term? We know that in the past
there's been much talk about suicide, heart attacks,
miscarriages, children who suffer disabilities. Chemicals are a
dangerous thing when they're not used properly or when they
carry agents or substances that have a very deleterious long-
term effect. Could you elaborate, if you would, on what the
individual athlete experience is? How they're out of the
limelight, how they have to suffer in private as they get sick.
And if I could ask Ms. Freitag, if you would--I mentioned
Xue Yinxian earlier. She is the one who exposed about 10,000
athletes, in her estimation, in China who were part of the
state-run doping process. She sought asylum in Germany last
year. We know she hasn't gotten it yet. Do you have any
insights or if you could check into that to see if she could,
again, receive that asylum so she could be protected?
And finally, in the spirit of the Magnitsky Act, which we
have pushed very hard in this commission, I'm always worried
about the athlete who is not drugging, who is part of a
national team, who then gets blacklisted and cannot participate
because she or he is part of a team that has coaches and others
who are doing the wrong thing. And along those veins, should
they be allowed to participate if they are indeed clean? And
also, what about the coaches? I mean, that's where you really
throw the book at them, and all the bureaucrats in the
government level who have committed these crimes and, again,
caused people to not win where they would have won who are not
doping--and we heard riveting testimony on that. So if you
could speak to that, whether or not a Magnitsky approach needs
to be looked at here even more where we go after the
perpetrators and the abusers, but hold harmless those who are
athletes, in this case, who have not doped?
Mr. Tygart. Was that directed at me, sir?
Mr. Smith. Yes. Anyone who'd like to go first. Please go
ahead.
Mr. Tygart. Yes, well, I'll take a couple and then defer to
you all as well. Yes, listen, I think as far as new drugs on
the market, athletes who want to cheat and have no moral
compass and will willingly go down that path want to find the
cheapest drug that will maximize performance and reduce the
chance they get caught. And so as pharmaceutical companies
continue to put drugs on the market, we at USADA and anti-
doping have to ensure that our tests are able to----
Mr. Smith. And what are those drugs?
Mr. Tygart. Peptides right now. Very serious problem. We've
got amendments to the Controlled Substance Act that we're
trying to push through that will deal with SARMs, selective
androgen receptor modulators, which you can walk into a sports
nutrition store and buy right now. They ought to be controlled.
They're not legal in the United States. They're going through
the NDA process. And they're just as potent, if not more
effective, for building muscle mass as any other drug. We can
test for them, so I don't worry that our elite athletes are
using them. I worry that kids, frankly, are using them, and
parents are walking into nutrition stores to buy them to give
to their kids to make them better. And they will make them
better, there's no doubt about it. And the toxic side effects
that those have are also very concerning.
On the Magnitsky Act, I'm glad you raised that. I think in
addition to some of the other concepts we've talked about here
today, and assume will talk about further, an easy amendment to
the Magnitsky Act, excuse me, would be to ensure that it
encompasses the type of corruption that we're talking about
here. Now, we believe there's an argument it currently does,
and that many of those that perpetrated this fraud could be
listed under the current test of the Magnitsky Act. But a
simple thing would be to make it really clear, that if you
corrupt international sport from a doping standpoint, doping
fraud standpoint, then there's a mechanism already in existence
where we could add those people to the Magnitsky Act.
Mr. Smith. If you would yield for one second--Magnitsky is
about gross violations of human rights. I was talking about a
Magnitsky-like approach, where those athletes who are not in
any way, shape, or form doping get blackballed and cannot be
part of the team, because they have been summarily told: That
team does not participate. I'm thinking of those Russian
athletes who may not be doping. I mean, should they be broad
brushed, and so they should not participate either?
Mr. Tygart. Yes, listen, I think the system has to be held
to account. And when it's so ingrained in the system, it's
unfair on the balancing test whose rights are more important--
the clean athlete from a country competing against a clean
athlete from a country where we don't know whether or not they
participated for sure in the system. You have to tip to the
clean athlete from a country that had no system in place, I
think. That said, certainly an individual assessment--which
several of the sport federations have done--is a fair way to
resolve that particular case. We would say to those clean
athletes certainly we're compassionate for them, care for them.
We would hope they would take the steps like Dr. Rodchenkov has
done and like Yuliya has done to stand up and fight against
their system, to ensure that the system is dismantled from
within as best as we possibly can.
Mr. Smith. You know, and on these designer drugs, the new
ones, does anybody have a clue as to how--what the consequences
are to the athlete, particularly long term, intermediate term?
Mr. Tygart. Yes and no. I mean, many are manufactured
overseas, and come in through supplements where 90 percent of
the ingredients are coming from Asia, and the quality control
is not very good. The NDA that I mentioned earlier on SARMs,
Ostarine, we've talked to the developer of that. And at certain
doses, it's highly toxic. And it's why we think it should be
put on the controlled substance act as quick as we possibly
can, to ensure that it's off store shelves and can't be
reasonably bought as a fraudulent supplement, as it's currently
being sold as.
Mr. Smith. Katie, did you want to speak?
Ms. Uhlaender. Oh, I was wanting to comment on your
question of what to do about the athletes in Russia that may
not be doping. And I would hope there would be some. However,
from my perspective, having dedicated 15 years of my life to
the Olympic movement, I signed up for the best testing
possible. And the USADA does a fantastic job of regulating us.
And until this instance came up, I had no idea that other
nations did not follow the same processes. And I think that
this highlights the instability of the enforcement of the rules
that are out there. And this is where you guys, the leaders of
our nations, can come in, as well as looking to Germany and
what they've established, and how we rise those rules up and
make them enforceable.
I mean, I guess they tried. But, again, there was so much
evidence presented and nothing was done. And to your point,
those athletes that may not be doping had to either walk away
from the sport or risk their lives. That's an infringement not
just on the athletes who are clean, but also the ones that were
forced to dope.
I'm concerned, and I think many athletes are, for the
protection of our rights, not just doping, but who's going to
protect the state from abusing power? And I think that there
are multiple reasons why the systems and processes that Germany
is establishing could be a good model for us all.
Mr. Smith. Thank you.
Ms. Freitag?
Mr. Burgess. Would the chairman yield to me for one moment?
Mr. Smith. Yes, of course.
Mr. Burgess. And I was intrigued because Ms. Stepanova's
testimony referenced a compound that I was not familiar with,
Turinabol.
So through the miracle of ``Dr. Google,'' I Googled it and,
oh, my gosh, the website that came up, the stuff you can buy,
Chairman, it is absolutely unbelievable. And this compound was
one that was actually used by East Germans back in 1962. And it
had very potent anabolic muscle-building activities, but
limited androgenic or male hormone activities, which is one of
the reasons that it was so ideal for this purpose.
I thank you for bringing that to our attention. I mean, I
had no idea that that was even out there. And now I've opened
up an entirely new world and probably alerted the NSA to the
fact that I'm purchasing bodybuilding steroids.
But thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll yield back to you.
Mr. Smith. Ms. Freitag.
Ms. Freitag. Yes. Thank you. I would like to give a few
remarks about the consequences of doping. You already mentioned
German experiences, especially in the former GDR. In the early
1960s, they started a state-run doping program. And up to
today, we in reunified Germany now are facing the consequences
of the state doping programs.
We passed a special law in order to give some financial
support to those victims of doping in the former GDR because we
have, more or less, Gepler's [ph] recording of what the
athletes were administered. They wrote down everything, so we
know a lot about it.
But what I do not want to forget to mention, many of those
former athletes died an early death. Many of them are facing
severe health problems. And the worst case you really can
imagine happened to a young female shot putter named Heidi
Krieger. She was administered so many male anabolic steroids
like testosterone and things, so today he lives as Andreas
Krieger.
It's simply impossible to understand what happened to that
young woman due to those people who did not care for everything
they did to that young woman. And Andreas Krieger today is one
of the best witnesses of what doping can affect to young
bodies, be it female or male young athletes.
And another question was about the coaches. Yes, I think we
have to look at the whole entourage of the athletes. It's not
only the coaches. It's medical doctors, of course. It's the
dealers who provide them with doping substances. And our German
anti-doping legislation also focuses on the entourage of the
athletes. It's not only the athletes that are in the focus. And
I think it's important to point out that they are responsible
at least as much as the athlete who says yes or no.
You see, in Western democracies, athletes more or less have
the chance to say no. But in authoritarian states, I think--and
I think Yuliya can say more about it--you don't really have a
choice. Otherwise, you will have to finish your career. That's
my impression.
Mr. Smith. And if you could, please check into the Chinese
athletes.
Ms. Freitag. Honestly, not really. We know, of course,
about people.
Mr. Smith. No, no, would you check into Xue who is seeking
asylum in Germany?
Ms. Freitag. Pardon?
Mr. Smith. If you could check into the woman who is seeking
asylum for being a whistleblower in the People's Republic of
China. And if she were to be forcibly repatriated, she'd go
right to prison.
Ms. Freitag. Well, that's typical for states like that.
Whenever those people reenter their home countries, they will
have to face severe consequences. I think, yes, I understand.
Mr. Smith. The appeal is that she obtains asylum in Germany
where she has applied for it. That would be our appeal to you.
Ms. Freitag. Yes, you are right. I am sorry, I didn't
understand the word.
Mr. Walden. And, Mr. Chairman, if I may just contextualize
one thing. I certainly share your concern about clean athletes.
And certainly, I think, as the commission well knows, Dr.
Rodchenkov's testimony was actually very important in
exonerating two Russian athletes that were initially suspected
of participating in the state-sponsored doping system, but
ultimately were determined not to.
The difficulty in this case is Russia's intransigence. I
mean, after the first report came out from the World Anti-
Doping Agency, they put a roadmap in place, they put a path to
Russia rejoining the world community. And it wasn't a
complicated path. All they had to do was to give WADA access to
their lab and turn over the backup data for their computers and
turn over whatever stored samples they had. And so if there
were a tremendous number of clean Russian athletes, you would
think that Russia would be very happy to cooperate. Well, we're
now 2 years later and Russia still refuses to do what it needs
to do to comply with the roadmap, including simply admit that
the allegations, as Ms. Uhlaender said is as plain as the nose
on anyone else's face, just simply admit that they're true.
And so, in a system where they're committed to lying,
they're committed to deception, they're committed to
gangsterism, it's very difficult for outside folks to help them
protect their own clean athletes, assuming some still exist.
Ms. Uhlaender. To add to that, I feel like this is a moment
in history that's important. Because in this respect, drawing a
line will actually create unity. And I think from what I can
observe, Russia is a culture in which they would respect that.
But until we draw that line, they're going to continue to push
the limits as we've seen in multiple areas from their culture.
So, again, I thank you for this opportunity and I ask--us as
athletes, all of us, we're asking for your help.
So thank you.
Mr. Burgess. Thank you, Chairman Smith.
I recognize the gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Sheila Jackson
Lee, for your questions.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Let me ask, Mr. Walden, in your
representation, how devastating is the impact of doping on the
losers? Meaning that an athlete wins who has doped, but behind
those winners are losers who have much invested--their lives,
years of training, expectations. What have you seen?
Mr. Walden. Well, I would say that Ms. Uhlaender is
probably in a much better position than me from my limited
vantage point. First of all, I just want to say, again, how
grateful we are to both Representative Burgess and
Representative Jackson Lee for sponsoring this very important
bill.
But this obviously ruins lives. I mean, your comments
before about putting aside the financial rewards, which are a
distant second for the athletes to being deprived of the moment
on the podium only to find out that you were cheated all along.
And in the case of Ms. Uhlaender, having essentially been
robbed twice. I give her an incredible amount of respect and
admiration that she still wants to go on and win and win and
win for the United States.
So your question is a perfect one. And I hope it's one that
every single representative and senator asks themselves. How
many devastated American athletes were there after not just the
Sochi game results were disclosed, because it wasn't just
Sochi, it was London, it was Beijing? This has been going on
since 1968 in Russia. And so this bill is critical in order to
save the next generation of not just U.S. athletes, but
athletes from clean countries that same devastation.
Ms. Jackson Lee. You set up Katie very well. I just wanted
to know, from your perspective, but I would like to hear from
you on that question of how devastating it is, so people can
understand and be on the record what the depth of commitment an
athlete has to make to even get to the Olympics or any
competition.
Ms. Uhlaender. Honestly, it's intangible and indefinable to
communicate what that is in words. But I dedicated 15 years of
my life, and all of my adult life to sport. But I feel blessed
that my father gave me something to hold onto, which are
principles and virtue that helped me to understand that the
glory is in my efforts and in that I'll represent my country
and the people supporting me and God as well. So I try to hold
onto that and remember that everything I do I'll earn. And then
by continuing a path focused on those goals, so I can inspire
others to pursue excellence.
But I'm left with hope, hope that by doing so I can inspire
others to stand up and define a line that would prevent someone
else from losing an Olympic medal, and in my case twice, the
same medal. There are no words really to describe what it feels
like to lose the opportunity once every 4 years to stand on the
podium and say thank you to the people that have supported me,
that believed in me, that helped me get there, see my flag
raised and have that moment to show them it was--I'm sorry, I'm
getting emotional.
Ms. Jackson Lee. That's all right. That's all right.
Ms. Uhlaender. It's a platform that is rare. And I feel
like I missed the opportunity to inspire others to pursue
excellence and show my country how proud I am to represent them
and how grateful I was to have that opportunity. That medal, in
my opinion, wasn't mine. My glory is in my effort, honestly,
and that was my opportunity to say thank you and earn something
for what I believe our nation stands for.
The Olympics inspire a virtuous character because it holds
its participants to a higher standard than any other arena and
it keeps it more pure--at least that's what I grew up believing
in. And in that, that self-belief that it develops and the
virtue, is something that could create American heroes, people
that are dedicated to their passions and avoiding mediocrity.
It exemplifies the best of humanity.
And this scandal ruined all of those beliefs. It struck out
the Olympic flame. And I'm hoping that with these discussions
and the leadership of our country that we can help relight it.
Ms. Jackson Lee. That was worthy of listening to you for a
longer period of time. And forgive us if we've struck an
emotional chord. You've struck an emotional chord in all of us.
And those words will be very vital to our colleagues to try to
understand.
Let me just ask, how soon after the Olympics were you made
aware of the doping influence, in both instances?
Ms. Uhlaender. That answer is somewhat complicated in that
in the season of 2015-16, in December, I was informed that
Russia had destroyed over 1,600 samples when WADA had attempted
to collect information at their lab. And I was in disbelief
because I was naive. I was sure that the big people would take
care of it because integrity is what we all believe in, that's
the Olympic spirit.
And then when The New York Times revealed the depth of the
conspiracy, the lengths that the country went to ensure that
they would win, my heart literally broke, because not just me,
but all of my competitors in that race can never get that
moment back. We dedicated our lives to that moment, to fair
competition. And I have to say there is nothing more
exhilarating than the best in the world standing up to the line
and just saying ``see you at the bottom.''
But to know that that competition was tainted, to know that
it was not what any of us thought it was, and then on top of
that the evidence and everything that had happened had been
presented and there was nothing done about it. So I found out
about it in 2015. I was temporarily a bronze medalist from
November 2017 to February 2018. And now I'm back to fourth.
Ms. Jackson Lee. You are a remarkable young woman, and
thank you so very much.
Let me just, if I might, Mr. Chairman, indulge Ms.
Stepanova.
If I could ask you a question. Thank you for being here. I
think you have heard Ms. Uhlaender's comments. And we are
appreciative of your presence. And so, would you share with us
the importance of leaders stopping doping, cleaning up
competition? And how much pressure are on Russian athletes or
other athletes to participate in doping?
Thank you so much for being here.
Ms. Stepanova. In Russia, I believe there is a culture of
doping. Russian athletes all believe that all athletes around
the world use prohibited substances. They believe you cannot
achieve a medal without prohibited substances.
Nobody pushes you physically to use prohibited substances,
it's more social, psychological. When I started to compete, I
started to hear about prohibited substances from other
athletes. And my coach told me many stories how when he was an
athlete, he used prohibited substances. And it was, like,
people all around me spoke to me only about prohibited
substances, about how they were the way to prepare for winning
medals, not about other ways, like other ways don't exist.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Did you know it was illegal or wrong? Was
there any discussion in Russia that it was wrong, it was
unfair? And did they tell you that everyone in the world used
it, or you knew that other people did not?
Ms. Stepanova. When I was in Russia, I only met athletes
who used on the Russian team. I didn't meet any clean athlete
who could say that ``I never used and I got this medal because
I never used.'' And Russian athletes, they don't feel like
they're doing something wrong because they believe all athletes
around the world do the same.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Are you glad or do you believe we should
stop doping and fix it around the world?
Ms. Stepanova. From my experience, when I was in Russia, I
also believed that all athletes used it, because of what I saw
around me, I only saw athletes who were using. But when I
decided to try to and fight it with my husband and I started to
meet athletes from other countries, I started to meet clean
athletes and I started to believe yes, clean athletes exist.
And I'm glad that I have enough courage to tell the truth
because it's not easy to tell truth about yourself, about how I
cheated.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Well, your courage is, as well, amazing
and powerful. We thank you. We hope--and my last question to
you, and just one more question, Mr. Chairman, to the
representative from Germany--but I want to let you know how
much we appreciate it. And do you think we could ever get
Russia to stop doping in its athletic programs?
Ms. Stepanova. I hope, but I know it's not easy. It's not
easy to change minds. It should be started from the top,
because if it started from the top and they'd start to really
fight this doping, athletes would stop doping. I believe it.
Ms. Jackson Lee. If Mr. Putin had a different attitude and
expressed that nationally, it would stop.
Ms. Stepanova. Yes, I think so.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you for your courage.
Ms. Freitag, there is an important point in the bill about
protecting whistleblowers in the legislation. And I want to
know from you how important that is in highlighting doping
around the world if we, the United States, has in its
legislation protecting whistleblowers and how much we should
try to push such legislation internationally.
Ms. Freitag. Thank you for the question. I think protecting
whistleblowers belongs to the most important points in the
whole case. Without people like Yuliya and her husband or Mr.
Rodchenkov, we would not know, we by far would not know enough
about the state-run doping system in Russia. And they were the
ones who started to reveal it. There were journalists from
Germany, from Great Britain as well who worked into the case.
But without those whistleblowers, we wouldn't know what we have
to know.
And we only can fight doping successfully if we know as
much as possible. And that is why the protection of
whistleblowers worldwide is an important issue. And that is why
I support the proposed bill because, among others, it focuses
on that.
And maybe allow me one or two more remarks to your question
No. 1, the impact of doping on the loser. Of course, I cannot
say it so emotionally like Katie because she had the personal
impact, but from my time in the German Athletics Federation, I
have had many conversations with athletes who got their medals
maybe 10, 12 years later. Some of them found their medals in
the mailbox without anything.
We have a German shot putter, a female German shot putter
who told me she had been upgraded 13 times, not only to the
medal rings, but maybe from positions, seven to five or so. But
13 times, imagine what that means for an athlete.
I would have lost all the motivation to go on competing.
And these athletes are the ones we as politicians should fight
for. We should do it together and we should do it on our
national levels. And then we can encourage young people to do
top-level sports. Otherwise, why should they do that if the
fear to be cheated is so big that you say what should I do that
for? We need those national heroes as role models for our young
people, but they must have a chance to reach their goal, the
Olympic dream, like Katie said.
Thank you.
Mr. Burgess. And thank you for your time and questions. I'm
going to have to draw your time to a close. I've got a House
Rules Committee that's coming up very, very quickly.
Ms. Jackson Lee. I just want to thank you very much and
also indicate we should work without ceasing to get the
legislation passed.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Burgess. Yes. There actually are a couple of questions
that I would like to get in.
And we've heard, of course, about Russia. And Chairman
Smith brought up China, and East Germany in the 1960s, so other
countries have been involved. So what are the signs and
symptoms that a country is involved in this? Are there are any
tripwires that should have been evident to other members of
perhaps the International Olympic Committee that this requires
additional scrutiny? It does seem a little unfair to push it
all off onto the athletes. So does anybody have any thoughts on
that?
Yes, Mr. Tygart?
Mr. Tygart. Two points. First--and it's not related
directly to that question, but I'll come back to that--while we
sit here and listen to athletes who have been abused by a
state-run doping system, hear the obvious emotional story and
heartfelt feelings from someone whose dream's been crushed, the
corporations, 8 of the 13 for the United States, are the top
sponsors of the International Olympic Committee paying $25
million each. And the sport leaders who oversaw this program
are not here. We need to hold them accountable. We hear
crickets from them and that's something that we should
seriously address.
Mr. Burgess. But let me ask you: Is there some indication,
some sign or symptom that those groups should see as a red flag
that there is a problem here?
Mr. Tygart. If someone, if a country is winning, you look
at Russia's 2010 winter games placement at seventh and then
immediately went to number one at home in 2014, all of us said
this is not being done by athletic skill alone.
Mr. Burgess. Okay.
Mr. Tygart. So you can go down the list of winners in
countries, and it's a generality, and look at those countries,
and we've done it. Who are running effective programs to ensure
athletes from those countries are showing up at those
international games?
Mr. Burgess. All right, that's valuable. Thank you.
Katie, you wanted to say something?
Ms. Uhlaender. Yes. I just attended the executive board
meeting of WADA and the Global Athlete Forum with them. And
they recently developed the CRC, which is the Compliance Review
Committee, where they have created standards that all
international federations and countries are meant to stand by.
And I think--did USADA have a part in that?
I think that the USADA and Germany, like other nations, are
following those rules. And right now, it's a matter of finding
a way to get all of the nations to be compliant.
And I think Travis has a great idea. If we have governments
on the board instead of sport leaders, it would eliminate the
conflict of interest. There are rules and policies in place
that seem like they would work. And the CRC would be
transparent, open to the public, making recommendations to the
board through another independent investigations committee.
And I think right now, from my objective perspective, I
would just want to know if it's possible for our government to
get involved or others to make it enforceable and actually
create unity that the Olympics are meant to, instead of having
individual sports, as Travis is pointing out, have investments
with sponsors or other conflicting interests that have dollar
signs as a priority over the movement.
Mr. Burgess. I think that's what we're going to find out.
Yes, Mr. Walden?
Mr. Walden. Yes, Representative Burgess, just to answer
your question another way, WADA also publishes, and has since
2013, published yearly statistics of anti-doping rule
violations. And if you look at that report, you can look at the
top 10, there's not a lot of movement in the top 10. I would
say that wherever you're in the top 10 of all nations, that is
a huge red flag.
For the last 3 years, Russia has been the leader in anti-
doping rule violations by a wide margin, but there are some
other countries in there that at least seem to have the
earmarks of a systematic problem, whether or not they have a
state-run doping system.
Mr. Burgess. Can you tell us those countries?
Mr. Walden. I don't want to.
Mr. Burgess. OK.
Mr. Walden. I don't have it off the top of my head and I
don't want to falsely accuse someone. Sorry.
Mr. Burgess. Fair enough, sure. I got it.
Ms. Uhlaender. I also competed in Olympic weightlifting. I
competed in the 2012 Olympic trials and trained under Zygmunt
Smalcerz, who is a 1972 Olympic champion. And he pointed out to
me one day at training, you can go onto the Junior Olympic site
where all weightlifting athletes are juniors and the number of
athletes that were testing positive among certain countries was
staggering. And that was also the aspect that scared me so much
because those athletes could take a 4-year ban at 14 years old
or at the Youth Games, even younger, and then come back and
have a full career. But then after they're done, when the state
is done with them, athletes like those that Ms. Freitag
encountered, are then dying early and facing severe health
consequences for those actions that they didn't fully
understand when they were participating in them.
I believe that there are statistics and data that we could
collect. It's just I think we need or--I'm not really a part of
it, I'm a participant--but, like, the government could assist
in data collection and analyzing it.
Mr. Burgess. Let me just ask you a question. I am a
physician by background and, obviously, know about the
intersection of the medical community with this. And I realize
there are different jurisdictions in different countries, but
surely there are some country or, in our case, state licensing
boards, specialty societies. I mean, is there no accountability
to the physicians that were involved in this?
I mean, in Ms. Stepanova's case, it almost sounds like
child abuse. I mean, that seems punishable by criminal statute
in this country. Am I missing something here? Is the medical
community not allowed to step up, are they fearful of stepping
up, or are they just a too-willing a participant here?
Mr. Tygart. Well, I would just say, in the U.S., certainly,
if we have jurisdiction over them and they participate and we
have the evidence, we'll bring cases. And that's, you know, a
key primary effort of ours to hold them accountable. And then
we have also made referrals to the licensing boards in various
states of doctors who knowingly participated in this type of
behavior.
But on an international scheme, of course, they can be held
under the sport rules. But whether or not their own countries
have those types of bodies that can withdraw their license is a
question for each one of those countries, I think.
Mr. Burgess. Ms. Freitag?
Ms. Freitag. Yes, maybe an additional remark. In Germany,
the medical doctors who take care of our athletes have to sign
a special paper that they are deeply committed to clean sports.
And every year, the sports federations have to report to the
government about their efforts in the anti-doping fight. And
whenever we as members of the sports community would have the
feeling they are not complying to what we want them to do, we
could reduce the amount of money, for example, they get from
the state for their work.
And I think this is very interesting. The medical doctors
are a key toward clean or dirty sports. And yes, that is why we
should have a look. And our legislation says, whenever a
medical doctor is involved in doping cases, they will be
punished as well.
Mr. Burgess. And I think that's critical. I mean, you
referenced those difficulties in East Germany in the early
1960s.
And, Katie, obviously you've experienced some problems.
But, Yuliya, oh, my gosh, I mean, your story is just beyond
compelling. And I just can't tell you how badly I feel for you
and that that was administered at the hands of someone who had
taken an oath only to heal. And they harmed you and that's
wrong.
And I hope whatever else happens that the medical community
acknowledges to the extent that there's complicity in this and
that they put a stop to it. I think it's on them to do so.
So you've all been very generous. It's been really a very
emotional afternoon. I appreciate you sharing with us.
As you can see from the testimony of Ms. Jackson Lee and
Mr. Smith, this is something that--to answer your question,
Katie--we're going to find more out, we're going to find out if
we can do this. I was skeptical myself when it was brought to
me. Can we even do this? But we will find out.
And it is clearly important. And the commitment that exists
now from having had this very powerful afternoon, it is even
stronger, at least in this commissioner.
So thank you very much. We're going to stand in
adjournment.
There may be a few additional questions that the Helsinki
Commission has for each of you as witnesses. And if you receive
those questions, I would ask you to respond promptly.
And thank you for your participation this afternoon.
We'll stand in adjournment. Thank you.
Mr. Tygart. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 4:01 p.m., the hearing ended.]
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A P P E N D I X
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Prepared statements
----------
Prepared statement of Hon. Michael C. Burgess, Commissioner, Commission
on Security and Cooperation in Europe
This hearing of the Helsinki Commission will come to order.
Good afternoon and welcome to this Helsinki Commission
hearing titled ``The State of Play: Globalized Corruption,
State-Run Doping, and International Sport.'' I would like to
thank Chairman Wicker for making this hearing possible.
The Commission is mandated to monitor compliance with
commitments freely undertaken by participating States of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Given the
size and scope of the Russian state-run doping program and the
rampant corruption corroding the integrity of international
sport, we are compelled to speak out and take action.
In 2014, Ms. Yuliya Stepanova, who we are so pleased to
have with us here today, appeared on German TV and blew the
whistle on Russia's state-run doping program. This led to the
formation of an Independent Commission through the World Anti-
Doping Agency, or WADA, which investigated Ms. Stepanova's
claims and found that ``a deeply-rooted culture of cheating''
exists in Russia. The fallout of this report in Russia
eventually led Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, fearing retaliation from
Putin, to flee Russia for the United States, where he revealed
an astonishing amount of data and detail on Russia's state-run
doping program, which he had accumulated while head of the
Moscow anti-doping lab.
A New York Times expose laid bare the unprecedented extent
and complexity of an illegal program that sought to swing a
large number of international sports events in favor of the
Russians. This was accomplished through an elaborate scheme,
which involved numerous Russian state agencies, including the
Russian Ministry of Sport and the FSB, the successor to the
Soviet KGB. From 2011 to 2015, over 1000 Russian athletes in 30
sports benefited from this cover-up operation to the detriment
of clean athletes.
Putin himself ordered this state-run doping program in
order to drum up support for oppression at home and aggression
abroad. To him and his kleptocratic cronies, international
sport is not a competition between skilled individuals, but
rather a geopolitical tool, equal to their use of corruption,
energy, and disinformation to influence other states and their
own population.
Those who attempt to challenge this state-run apparatus are
fighting a losing battle. It is only thanks to whistleblowers
like Ms. Stepanova and Dr. Rodchenkov that we have any idea of
the enormity of the Russian state-run doping operation. WADA,
while it has done what it can, has a budget of $30 million a
year and is going up against a well-funded state conspiracy.
Moreover, after years of mounting evidence, the only
significant action taken by the International Olympic Committee
has been a suspension of Russia from the Pyeongchang Olympic
Games, a suspension that has already been lifted. As The
Economist has written, ``WADA is wielding a knife in a highly-
charged arms race. Even when it finds clear evidence of
systematic doping, as it did in Russia, there is no guarantee
that the IOC will act on it quickly and decisively.''
Clearly, a new approach is needed to counter this method of
authoritarian influence. That is why I, along with my fellow
Commissioner from Texas, Ms. Jackson-Lee, have introduced the
Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act. This act would criminalize doping
at international competitions that the United States
participates in so as to provide a deterrent against those who
would engage in doping fraud. It would put every Putin crony
and doping facilitator on notice that their name may appear in
a U.S. indictment should they attempt to defraud clean
athletes.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will hear testimony from a truly
distinguished panel today who will provide invaluable insight
into the state of international sport, what can be done to
counter corruption and state-run doping, and recommendations
for U.S. policy.
We are particularly pleased to have with us today Mr.
Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, or
USADA. Mr. Tygart has led USADA through some of its most
impactful efforts to keep international sport free of doping.
USADA has notably been instrumental in Operation Raw Deal--one
of the largest international steroid busts in history--as well
as the investigation of the BALCO labs conspiracy, in which the
San Francisco lab supplied performance-enhancing drugs to
professional athletes. Mr. Tygart also led the Agency's
investigation in the U.S. Postal Service pro-cycling team
doping conspiracy and spearheaded the publication of the
Reasoned Decision in the Lance Armstrong case.
Next, we will hear from Katie Uhlaender. Ms. Uhlaender is a
U.S. Olympian and has won five medals at the International
Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. She has won three bronze
medals, a silver medal, and, in 2012, a gold medal, winning her
first Skeleton World Championship. She has also won the women's
Skeleton World Cup twice. Congratulations on your victories--we
are grateful to have you represent our country in the Olympics.
Following Katie, Yuliya Stepanova will share her
experiences with us. Ms. Stepanova is a world-class Russian
athlete and an anti-doping whistleblower. Vitaly Stepanov, her
husband, is a former employee of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency
and witnessed firsthand the Russian state-run doping program.
Ms. Stepanova bravely began collecting evidence by recording
conversations with fellow athletes and coaches and uncovered
large-scale doping fraud. Yuliya and her husband currently
reside in the United States after receiving death threats. We
thank you and your husband for your courage to speak out.
After Yuliya, Dagmar Freitag, who we are very honored have
with us today, will provide us her perspective from the German
Bundestag. Ms. Freitag is the Chairwoman of the Sports
Committee and is an expert in combating doping at both national
and international levels. She has been a part of the Bundestag
since 1994 and became Chairwomen of the Sports Committee in
2009. Most recently, Ms. Freitag became the Deputy Chairwoman
of the German-U.S. Parliamentary Friendship Group. Ms. Freitag,
we are grateful for you being with us on this side of the
Atlantic today.
Finally, we will hear from Jim Walden, the attorney for Dr.
Grigory Rodchenkov. Unfortunately, Dr. Rodchenkov himself is
unable to be here with us today due to the ever-present threat
of Russian retaliation against him. Jim Walden is a Partner at
Walden Macht & Haran LLP. He participated in a Helsinki
Commission briefing on the Russian state-run doping program
back in February and has been a constant source of insight on
these issues since. Thank you for being here and representing
Dr. Rodchenkov.
Thank you all for being with us this afternoon. Mr. Tygart,
the floor is yours.
Prepared statement of Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Co-Chairman,
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this timely hearing.
International sport has become deeply tainted by
corruption. Bribery, extortion, and drug trafficking have all
become commonplace in the world of international sport--from
the questionable integrity of the process of awarding major
international competitions to illegal betting. state-run doping
is the ultimate expression of this corruption. Encompassing all
aspects of what is wrong with international sport, state-run
doping programs cheat athletes out of their life's work and
their livelihoods, all to generate legitimacy for deeply
oppressive systems.
As always, we are extremely grateful to whistleblowers for
revealing these corrupt systems. Today, we have one of those
whistleblowers with us--Yuliya Stepanova, who started the ball
rolling on the revelations regarding the Russian state-run
doping program. We also have Jim Walden here, who represents
Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov--another courageous Russian
whistleblower who revealed the wide breadth and convoluted
nature of Russia's scheme.
I would like to mention an additional whistleblower who is
not here with us today--Dr. Xue Yinxian, a Chinese doctor who
worked with China's Olympic team throughout the 80s. At one
point, she even served as the chief medical supervisor to the
Chinese gymnastic team.
Dr. Xue claims that 10,000 athletes were involved in a
Chinese state-run doping program during the 80s and 90s. They
had to accept the drugs, she says, or ``face punishment or
criticism.'' She adds, ``If you refused to dope, you had to
leave the team.'' She has also discussed the abhorrent practice
of doping young athletes--as young as eleven years old--
resulting in devastating physical effects.
Given the extent of the program, she concludes that all
medals won by China at this time should be returned. Like too
many whistleblowers, she has been forced to flee her home for
fear of retaliation. She has commented, ``Anyone against doping
damaged the country and anyone who endangered the country now
sits in prison.'' This is common in China where dissent against
the state and truth-telling are not tolerated. Dr. Xue is now
seeking asylum in Germany. As we are greatly honored to have
Dagmar Freitag, a German Member of the Bundestag and Chairwoman
of the Bundestag's Sports Committee with us here today, I hope
that you might be able to speak to where her asylum claim
currently stands.
Despite having spoken out about Chinese state-run doping in
2012, Dr. Xue's allegations still have not been investigated by
the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). I urge WADA to take all
measures to investigate her claims as thoroughly as it
investigated the claims of Dr. Rodchenkov. They certainly seem
plausible. China, much like the Soviet Union and now Russia,
has always viewed international sport as nothing more than a
tool to demonstrate its status and awe its people into
submission. It would not surprise me in the least to find that
China had engaged in such practices or even that it still does.
The scourge of state-run doping around the world must be
fought with the full force of the law. I look forward to
hearing from our distinguished witnesses about how we can
achieve this.
Prepared Statement of Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Ranking Member,
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this important
hearing today.
Russia uses all manner of asymmetrical tactics to achieve
its goals across the world. As documented in the staff report
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Putin's Asymmetric
Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implication for U.S.
National Security, Putin takes advantage of any opening he can
find to push his anti-democratic agenda--by spreading
disinformation, manipulating energy supplies, or, most
dramatically, by invading its neighbors and then vehemently
denying it. His ultimate goal is to undermine the liberal
international order that has created such prosperity and
replace it with a chaotic free-for-all where his autocracy is
normalized.
International sport, too, is viewed by Russia through the
lens of asymmetrical influence. As far back as the Soviet
Union, sport was viewed as a way to demonstrate the superiority
of dictatorship over democracy. One need only look at Putin's
approval ratings pre- and post-Sochi Olympics to understand the
value of athletic victory to autocrats--according to Gallup,
prior to the Sochi Olympics, Putin's approval was at 54%; after
Russia appeared to win the most medals at the Sochi Olympics,
it sprung up to 83%.
In the Oscar-winning documentary Icarus, Dr. Rodchenkov
states that he believes this high approval rating was part of
the calculus that helped Putin feel secure in invading Ukraine.
Today, we see Putin has attempted a similar feat by hosting the
World Cup--once again exploiting international sport to justify
authoritarianism.
State-run doping is a way that Russia attempts to gain an
asymmetrical advantage in international sport. Putin has put an
astounding amount of resources into this corrupt scheme.
Enlisting major intelligence assets and high-level cronies,
Russia defrauded athletes for years, cheating them out of
accomplishments they had been working their whole lives to
achieve.
This systematic doping is an expression of Russia's
weaponization of corruption. Putin uses corruption as a means
to influence neighbors and keep his own population in check. It
is no different for Russian athletes and international sports
bodies. He seeks to trap all persons of influence in his
corrupt web, making them beholden to him and enabling him to
apply leverage as he sees fit.
There are many ways that we can fight back against these
tactics. We can build greater defenses against disinformation
and cyber-attacks with our allies, diversify our energy
sources, and sanction bad actors with tools such as the Global
Magnitsky Act. We can also update our financial and legal
architecture--including by criminalizing the very activities
that Putin's spooks engaged in to pursue their state-run doping
program as proposed in the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act. Finally,
we can encourage more whistleblowers to come forward and offer
greater protections for them.
Though Putin would like to imagine himself the savior of
his country, whistleblowers like Ms. Stepanova and Dr.
Rodchenkov are the true patriots of Russia. While Putin robs
the Russian people blind, whistleblowers expose the crimes of
his regime. They do this under the threat of retaliation. The
Kremlin has demonstrated time and again its willingness to
pursue its political opponents across the world as it did most
recently in the case of Sergei Skripal. It is abhorrent that
whistleblowers must face such threats. But they must not be
deterred. They are centrally important to the global struggle
against Putin's criminal regime. The world truly owes them a
great debt.
I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov here
on Capitol Hill and was moved by his bravery. He was forced to
wear a mask for fear of retaliation--a terrible tragedy
necessary because of the very real threat to his life. I now
have the honor to meet you, Ms. Stepanova, and thank you for
joining us today. What you have done for international sport,
for the rule of law globally, and for Russia cannot be
overstated.
I look forward to hearing what you, and all our honored
guests, have to say.
Prepared statement of Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee, Commissioner, Commission
on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for holding this hearing.
Doping fraud is a crime in which big money, state assets,
and transnational criminals are involved and honest athletes
and sponsors are defrauded and abused. Nowhere is this clearer
than in the Russian doping scandal, where agents of Russia's
FSB, the successor to the Soviet KGB, and other state agencies
colluded to systematically cheat the Olympics over years. As
discussed in the Oscar-winning documentary Icarus, they did
this to shore up support for Putin's kleptocratic regime, which
steals in Russia and spends in the west, all while engaging in
acts of blatant aggression against its neighbors.
Athletes caught up in doping fraud stand to lose out not
only on their life's ambition, but also on the prize money and
sponsorships that sustain their livelihood. Take the case of
Alysia Montano, a U.S. runner who competed in the 2012 summer
Olympics. She finished fifth place with two Russian women in
first and third. These women were later found to have engaged
in doping fraud by the World Anti-dDoping Agency (WADA), which
means that Ms. Montano had rightfully finished third. She
estimates that doping fraud cost her ``maybe half a million
dollars, if you look at rollovers and bonuses, and that's
without outside sponsorship maybe coming in.'' She adds,
``That's not why you're doing it, but you still deserve it.''
Then there is the simple emotional aspect of being told
only years later that you were cheated out of your victory. In
the case of U.S. bobsledder Steve Holcomb, he was not even
around to see it. Having died before his two medals were
upgraded from bronze to silver, his teammate Steve Langton
commented, ``It's definitely a little bittersweet that Holcomb
isn't here to see this happening. He worked hard and he earned
those medals. It would have been very nice if he had the chance
to enjoy them.''
I am very grateful to have Katie Uhlaender with us here
today, who herself is a U.S. Olympian. I look forward to
hearing your story about how doping fraud affected you and how
it has affected international sport more generally.
I am also grateful to have Yuliya Stepanova and Jim Walden
with us here today. Ms. Stepanova, your bravery in coming
forward as a whistleblower is truly admirable. I hope that many
more Russian athletes will follow your example--it is high time
that they realize they need not be part of this corrupt system.
Mr. Walden, you'll recall we met with Dr. Rodchenkov a few
months back. He is a courageous individual and his
whistleblowing has strengthened the global fight against
corruption in international sport and elsewhere. We hope that
many others who know the ins and outs of Putin's corrupt system
will come forward. Because of people like Ms. Stepanova and Dr.
Rodchenkov, defrauded athletes at the very least know the truth
of how they were cheated.
My fellow Commissioners and I have set out to stop the
injustices occurring to athletes and protect whistleblowers in
the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act. This long overdue piece of
legislation establishes criminal penalties and civil remedies
for doping fraud at major international competitions. It also
prohibits retaliation against whistleblowers who expose doping
fraud and enables those whistleblowers who do experience
retaliation to sue the retaliating party. It is unfortunate
that such legislation has become necessary, but international
sports bodies have proven time and again that they are not
adequately able to investigate and deter doping fraud.
Doping fraud should matter to any sports fan and anyone who
cares about fair play. I welcome this hearing and this
distinguished, international panel. I hope that this
conversation will serve as the beginning of a global movement
to clean up international sport, which has been infiltrated and
corroded by corruption.
Prepared statement of Travis T. Tygart, Chief Executive Officer, United
States Anti-Doping Agency
Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission, good afternoon. My
name is Travis T. Tygart, and I am the Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). I want
to thank this Commission for its interest in clean sport and
for the invitation to appear before you today to discuss how we
can better protect the rights of athletes and the integrity of
competition.
It is an honor for me to be here representing the USADA
Board, our small but talented professional staff, and clean
athletes from across the United States for whom we advocate
every day. It is also an honor for USADA, a 501(c)(3), not-for-
profit, incorporated in Colorado, to be a part of such an
important discussion. We also greatly appreciate the ongoing
support of Congress and the President's Office of National Drug
Control Policy in our efforts to protect the health, safety and
rights of clean athletes and the integrity of competition.
We have arrived at a critical juncture for the soul of
sport--a moment of truth, if you will. And today, I want to
speak to the Commission about not only the significant and
urgent threats facing clean athletes and fair play, but also
about the very feasible solutions to these problems.
First, the challenges: The truth is, fairness and integrity
in athletic competition--two principles at the very heart of
why we play and love sports--hang in the balance. They have
been abused and are currently under attack. And, if we don't
act soon to enact reforms necessary to protect the rights of
clean athletes and to preserve a level playing field--both here
in the United States and around the world--we will be
committing an unacceptable injustice to today's athletes, fans,
broadcasters and sponsors who believe in, and invest in, fair
and clean competition; and equally intolerable, we risk
shattering the dreams of tens of millions of young kids from
around the world.
You will hear from Russian world class athlete, Yulia
Stephanov, about how a belief in a powerful dream coupled with
a nugget of truth led her to be the first and by far most
courageous ``whistleblower'' doing the truly unimaginable by
standing up to Russian thugs, corruption and mafia tactics that
overtook sport in her country. You will hear about the crushed
dreams and lost hopes of an American skeleton athlete, Katie
Uhlaender, who is also a victim of this corrupt Russian sport
system and who while knowing in her heart she was a legitimate
medalist in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, is still being
deprived of her rightful medal and recognition.
As an independent anti-doping organization, we view
athletes, like Yulia and Katie,--and their powerful stories--as
our guiding light, our North Star. Their stories give us hope,
they remind us of our purpose, and they provide us the fuel to
continue to fight for their right to clean and fair
competition.
But, we need to ask ourselves something. And we need to be
honest. How many more Yulias will we allow to be abused? How
many more podium moments stolen from athletes like Katie? How
many more medals will be handed over years after a
competition--before we finally understand the importance of
enforcing clean sport and fair competition? Katie and millions
of other clean athletes from around the world who can't be here
today . . . they are why this matters.
Now, in order to effectively protect the integrity of
competition, we must first understand how and why the system is
under attack. It's because Russia's widespread, state-supported
doping system that corrupted and defrauded international sport
was exposed. The astounding lengths to which Russia's corrupt
system went to deceive the world, anti-doping officials and
other athletes, was in many ways, a nightmare realized.
By now you've read and heard the facts: Shadow
laboratories, tampering by Russian intelligence officers,
samples swapped and passed through a hole in a wall under the
cover of darkness, male DNA in female samples, and emails to
and from the Russian Ministry of Sport determining which doped
athletes the system would protect, and which ones it would
sacrifice.
The corruption has been proven to have been orchestrated
and supported by Russian Government and sport officials within
the Russian system. The scandal spread across 30-plus sports,
lasting from at least 2011 to 2015. The evidence clearly shows
at least, two Olympics Games and possibly hundreds of other
competitions, were corrupted, failing to fully deliver on their
promise.
At the end of the day, despite mountains of evidence and
vocal opposition from anti-doping groups--ourselves included--
the IOC chose not to stand up for clean athletes and against
institutionalized doping. Instead, the IOC welcomed the Russian
Olympic Committee to the Rio Games.
Still attempting to recover from its failure to take a firm
stand against corruption prior to the Rio Games and fumbling
around with Russia's refusal to acknowledge and fix the
corruption, shockingly the IOC eventually only suspended the
Russian Olympic Committee for a few weeks and allowed over 160
Russian athletes to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
On behalf of those we serve along with anti-doping leaders
from around the world, we have been consistent and firm, the
IOC missed--or ignored--a defining moment to confront, in the
clearest way possible, the win-at-all-costs culture of
corruption through doping in global sport. It was an
opportunity to draw an unambiguous line in the sand; a chance
to stand up for clean athletes--a chance to show clean athletes
they cared, to send a message, loud and clear, that this type
of fraudulent behavior will not be tolerated in Olympic sport.
Yet, when the decisive moment arrived, when the lights were
shining brightest, the IOC failed to lead.
Certainly, history will not judge that decision kindly.
However, out of the Russian doping scandal, two silver
linings have emerged. The first: More than ever before athletes
are mobilizing, voicing their opinions and fighting for a level
playing field. And second: We have a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to break through entrenched positions for the good
of clean athletes and the future of sport. We have the chance
to implement the reforms necessary to make sure the kind of
state-supported doping we saw in Russia is never again allowed
to abuse athletes by forcing them to endanger their health and
safety to use dangerous drugs for a sport and government
system's bad purpose.
To get there . . . the road to reform starts with
independence. I've had the privilege to speak to Congress
several times before about the ``matrix of effectiveness'' for
anti-doping programs, about the elements of an effective anti-
doping program--one armed not just to say there is ``drug
testing'' for sport brand value purposes but to actually win
the battle for clean athletes. In the U.S. and in many
countries around the globe, these key elements such as,
ensuring year-round, no-notice, out-of-competition testing for
both blood and urine and conducting robust intelligence
gathering and investigations, have been implemented and proved
successful. Clean athletes can succeed when the current rules
are implemented with determination and will to win for clean
athletes.
Yet, the problems which currently plague the global anti-
doping system are even more basic. The most vital principle of
an effective anti-doping system is that it must be free from
the influence of sport governing bodies. It must be independent
and serious about protecting clean athletes.
Since our founding in 2000, we at USADA have advocated for
a clear separation between those who promote sport and those
who police it. To do so otherwise, we believe, is to encourage
the fox to guard the henhouse. No matter how well intended it
might begin, it simply does not work. The conflict of interest
is too great and clean athletes will always lose out.
This matter of independence is without question the most
important issue facing global anti-doping efforts today. In
fact, it's likely the entire Russian state-supported doping
scandal would have been exposed much sooner by the many good
men and women staffed at the global oversight body for anti-
doping in sport--the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)--had its
governance not been hamstrung by its own lack of true
independence.
We know now that WADA and the IOC had compelling evidence,
from whistleblowers Yulia and Vitaly Stephanov, about
systematic Russian cheating for several years prior to the 2014
Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Yet, action to protect clean
athletes only happened after the whistleblowers--frustrated by
inaction--took their story to the media. Even then, however, it
took persistent lobbying by clean sport advocates including
some within WADA's own internal staff to finally convince its
leaders to open up the initial Russian investigation which
began in January 2015.
The good news is that WADA's conflicted governance model
could be easily solved by removing sport leaders from the WADA
leadership and implementing a proper conflict-of-interest
policy which prohibits governing members from simultaneously
holding a governing role within a sports organization under
WADA's jurisdiction.
The fix for the IOC--which has experienced significant
backlash from clean athletes in the wake of its inaction and
poor handling of this sordid affair--is just as simple. In
fact, we've said publicly on numerous occasions that if the IOC
really wanted to put clean athletes and fair play first, they
could. We believe that they could do it today.
Since this Russian sport corruption was exposed, at least
37 National Anti-Doping Organizations from around the world,
with the support of athletes and others have put forth a series
of specific proposals designed to reform and strengthen the
global anti-doping model.
The path forward is outlined in what has been called the
``Copenhagen Reform Declaration.'' The reforms are simple yet
effective and include:
LRemove the fundamental conflict of interest that
exists when anti-doping decisions are controlled by sport
organizations.
LStrengthen WADA through improved independence,
transparency, and increased investment.
LIncrease and make clear WADA's ability to
investigate, monitor compliance and impose sanctions, so that
countries and organizations which engage in state-supported
doping are held accountable.
LProvide the opportunity for athletes who have
been robbed by doping to have significant and meaningful
recognition and celebration, including the swift reallocation
of any medals.
LIncrease support and protection for
whistleblowers around the world.
The failure of sport to do the right thing in confronting
institutional fraud through doping and the refusal of sport to
implement meaningful reforms has directly led us here today.
Since sport has failed to make the basic reforms necessary to
ensure this type of corruption never happens again, governments
of the world that value fair play and that do not want to see
athletes or corporations defrauded by kleptocrats should step
up and fight back. The status quo is doomed to fail and we
support efforts by governments and others to ensure that clean,
true sport prevails.
We appreciate the Commission's work to explore ways to stop
corrupt actors that organize and facilitate doping fraud, to
protect whistleblowers and to take meaningful action.
We whole heartedly support the goal of ensuring corrupt
organizations and enterprises that defraud athletic
competitions like what the Russians did never happens again. We
feel confident making WADA independent as discussed above will
preserve the many effective parts of the global system that
have worked and also cure the problems that allowed state
supported fraud to remain secret and then go unpunished for so
long. Likewise, as mentioned above, we and our international
partners support greater protection for truthful
``whistleblowers'' to encourage and incentivize them in
speaking up and making it easier for them to obtain access to
safe and secure living as well as to end any retaliation
against them.
Several of these concepts are in the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping
Fraud Act and we support them. Additionally, we are ready to
assist to help ensure any legislation that is ultimately passed
is precise, effective and successful. We also are here to
provide guidance, as appropriate, to ensure no unintended
consequences arise that would undermine the tremendous progress
that has been made since 2000 in advancing the interests of
clean athletes and fair sport.
We look forward to discussing these issues and working with
the Commission going forward on this topic and to evolve the
legislation to best achieve the goal of stopping criminal
behavior in international sport perpetuated by nations and
organizations and by protecting truthful whistleblowers.
Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, for those of us who
value the rights of clean athletes and the preservation of a
fair, safe and healthy playing field--this is our moment. As a
global community that deeply cares about athletes' rights and
health, we must merely find the resolve and the courage.
The personal well-being of the next generation of clean
athletes hangs in the balance. This is not just about elite
Olympic athletes--this is about every kid on a playground who
has an Olympic dream and asks ``what do I have to do to make my
dreams come true?'' And the truth is, if we don't push, if we
don't win, we will likely find ourselves back in this same
position, years from now, staring another state-supported
doping system in the face--one that has abused its athletes,
and robbed another generation of clean athletes in the process.
And, we will all be wondering why we didn't do more when we
had the chance.
Prepared Statement of Katie Uhlaender, U.S. Olympian
Thank you for the opportunity to be here. It is inspiring
to know the leaders of our nation are not giving up on
protecting the rights of athletes. I am a 4 time Olympian and
World Champion for the sport of Skeleton.
I have dedicated my life to sprinting and diving head first
onto a sled, hurling 80 mph down a bobsled track, with my chin
inches from the ice. I've competed for the United States for 15
years, and held personal growth, integrity, and character at
the forefront of my goals and duties as an Olympian. Despite
facing many obstacles, surgeries, financial strain, and family
loss I kept my focus on the goals I learned from my father. My
father was a professional baseball player, who held his
integrity and virtuous character above all. In the 1972 World
Series, the Big Red Machine versus Catfish Hunter and the
Oakland A's, he was faced with the choice to take performance
enhancing drugs, and his response was ``when you're at your
best it's enough.''
His lesson to me was whatever path I chose in life, what I
give it, should be something of pure grit and all I have to
offer. Excuses should never get in the way of success, and your
heart in the effort is what will define it. The effort,
integrity, and how I pursue excellence defines me more than the
results, or the career I chose.
I chose to be an athlete like my father; which actively
delayed my education, career, and settling on a home. My
decision to be an Olympian was for the challenge, the growth,
and the inspiration that is given and received. A noble path
that allows iron to sharpen iron; one that I believe honors my
father's legacy, what he has taught me, my country, and God by
giving the Olympic movement all I have. Sport is a space in
which all races, political parties, and nations come together.
The Olympics prominently holds their participants to a standard
of heart and inspiration. I am an ambassador for my country,
and for a movement that touches the world.
I am not government funded, have very little sponsorship
support, and there is very little money to be made by
essentially competing on a really fast American Flyer Sled.
None of the challenges I've faced deterred me from my dream or
grit, I see this choice as a privilege. The dream was to one
day stand on the podium, see the flag of the United States
raised, and have the opportunity to say thank you all the
people that supported me along the way. Winning a medal is the
chance to give back to those who believed in me, to my
community, and my country. That moment on the podium is a
platform to inspire others to pursue excellence. The glory is
in my effort. Any medal won belongs to those supporting our
nation, and the quest to discover what is possible in fortitude
and dreams.
I fell just short of that dream to give back at the Sochi
Winter Olympics. I missed a bronze medal by .04 of a second,
over a distance of four miles. (Four Hundredths is quicker than
you can blink!) I lost the bronze medal to a Russian athlete
named in the McLaren Report, and who benefitted from the state
sponsored conspiracy. Due to lack of enforcement, she and
Russia have kept the medal. When I lost in Sochi, I lost with
integrity and respect for my competitors. I did my best to
honor all who helped me get there, despite coming up short.
The New York Times revealed the doping scandal, the lengths
the Russians went to cheat, and it broke my heart. So many of
us had dedicated our lives to compete in that one moment, and
we could never get it back.
This was, and is a defining moment for all involved. A line
was crossed, erasing the meaning of sport and the Olympics, for
me and many. This intentional attack on the virtue of sport
caused the meaning of the Olympics to change. Yet I resolved
that I had done all I could, and I could only truly lose once.
But I was wrong.
The IOC ruled to strip the medals from those who had
cheated on November, 2017 (these athletes were listed in the
McLaren Report). This made me a bronze medalist, and it felt
like the good guy could win! The flame of the Olympic Movement
had been relit.
That flame was quickly put out. The ruling was not upheld.
The day I arrived in Korea for my 4th Olympic Games, they
announced the Court of Arbitration for Sport had overturned
that decision. I was no longer a bronze medalist, and had now
lost the same Olympics twice. This time almost felt worse, it
was a something that crushed more than my own spirit, we all
felt it.
How could this happen? The evidence shows Russian athletes
were forced to choose between taking illegal drugs to compete,
or be cast out of their life's pursuit. This is more than just
an attack on an ideal, it's an infringement on all athlete
rights. Essentially these athletes are forced to take dangerous
drugs, and there are no consequences or accountability for it,
because the athletes didn't know. What will stop Russia (or
another country) from abusing young children or other athletes
now realizing there are no serious consequences. Even if the
athletes are caught, the abusing powers have no accountability
and their nation keeps the glory.
A young athlete can return to sport to perform even after a
ban, at no consequence to their coaches or state. The athletes
may not feel the health consequences until years after they
retire. These drugs can result in serious health risks:
shortened life span, an inability to have children, but their
country's goals will have been met to win at all costs. There
is more at risk here than just the broken rules of a game.
No one is disputing Russia's conspiracy to cheat, the
fraud, or the doping, and yet nothing was done to protect the
athletes or to prevent this from happening again. There are
supposed to be institutions set in place to uphold these
ideals, and they are very well defined. I don't know how in
light of all the evidence presented, there were no consequences
or accountability held. The lack of enforced policy in regard
to cheating, fraud, and doping cost the Olympic spirit
something indefinable. All of the virtues I was taught to hold
above all else were left standing alone, without support,
seeming no longer valuable to the Olympic Movement, and it
scares me.
It seems clear that we need help with the application and
prosecution of the rules. Russia has still not met the
standards set before them, is refusing to turn over evidence
from the Moscow lab. Evidence that could bring closure to many
open cases. It is important that WADA acquires those samples.
The Russians have already destroyed over 3,000 samples to hide
evidence, and I worry these too will disappear. WADA needs the
strength to investigate, collect evidence, and enforce policy
to prevent spoliation.
We need help in giving the organizations in place the
ability to uphold and execute protection of sport.
As an athlete, I have done all I can. I compete with
integrity, represent my nation well and will continue to
compete with honor and show gratitude for the opportunity to
represent my nation. It seems clean athletes like myself, have
no choice but to turn to you, the leaders of our nation for
help. We need help protecting the ideals passed from father to
daughter, and the things that children are raised believing to
inspire them to a lifetime of dedication and self-belief. The
type of belief and dedication that creates American heroes.
A quote that also embodies why it matters to never give up
and continue to speak truth, spread virtue, and uphold one's
character:
``If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master;
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the will which says to them: `Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!''
Rudyard Kipling, If: A Father's Advice to His Son
Prepared Statement of Yuliya Stepanova, Former Russian Olympian and
Anti-Doping Whistleblower
Thank you very much for inviting me to share with you some
of my journey as an elite track and field athlete inside of
Russia's doping system and now a whistleblower hoping to make
sports clean.
I would like to begin by apologizing about my past.
Unfortunately, I cannot change my past. I was in the Russian
doping system, I cheated and now I am talking about it.
When I was 14 years old, I watched the 2000 Olympics in
Sydney. I saw all the Russian Olympians as gods,--as the people
out of this world. While watching them, I would get emotionally
attached. I cried when they lost and felt happiness when they
won. Back then I could not imagine that I could be one of the
athletes representing my home country in international
competitions and become like one of my athletic heroes.
I started running when I was 17 years old and started
hearing about doping from other athletes. I asked my coach,
what is doping? He explained to me that doping is like vitamins
for athletes. All athletes use it and if I want to run fast I
must use it.
When I was 20 years old, I got very sick and spent three
months in the hospital. Even though many people around me were
telling me that I will not be able to run again I kept dreaming
that I will get healthy because at that time I could not live
without running. Later, my coach told me that he spoke to the
doctor about giving me some prohibited substances, and the
doctor said they would probably lead to a faster recovery.
After getting out of the hospital I slowly started running
again and the first 6 months I was training lightly and taking
only pills that were prescribed to help recover from
tuberculosis.
The following winter my coach decided to give me
testosterone. That's where it began. I was soon doing EPO
injections, taking oral turinabol and more. My PRs got faster
and I became a real member of the Russian National Team. I
didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong because everyone
was doing it.
The most shocking thing that I learned during this time was
that members of the Russian National Track and Field team could
compete completely dirty at the National Championships. So, I
could do EPO and testosterone injections while competing in the
national championships and then just text my urine sample
number to the head of the Russian track and field medical
commission and there would not be a positive test. The anti-
doping lab and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, with the
approval of the Russian Ministry of Sports, did not report to
WADA about dirty samples. And there were hundreds of positives
just in track and field that were never reported. In the end,
the main goal was to make sure that those athletes were clean
two to three weeks after national competitions and during major
international competitions.
In the spring of 2012, The Russian Track and Field
Federation was not happy with my performances at international
competitions because I was not winning medals. But they gave me
one last chance. I decided that I need to train harder but soon
I started to feel pain in the upper part of the anterior thigh.
The pain got stronger every day, but I kept training.
Soon, I understood that I could not continue to run as I
had pain even when I was walking. My coach wanted to help me
recover faster and advised me to do infusions with
Creatinolfosfate sodium and Mydocalm. So, I infused the
substances and shortly after, my heart rate started to increase
rapidly. My heart was beating stronger and stronger with every
second.
I was scared that my heart would stop and I would die. The
ambulance came, and they injected something to get my heart
rate down. My heart had withstood the effects of these drugs
and I survived. After this, I was scared to do injections and
infusions on my own.
Today, I still have health problems after using all these
substances. My Ferritin level is 20 times more than it should
be and I have a stone in the right buttock from doing iron
injections the wrong way. Doctors said that my training helps
me to use extra ferritin from my body but when I stop my
training, I have to find a solution for this problem or I could
die from Iron Poisoning.
In the beginning of 2013 I was facing a ban. At that time,
Vitaly, my husband, helped me to see the world through
different eyes and offered me a choice. I could act like most
of my teammates did--cry a little and continue to listen to the
lies of the Russian sports officials and while being sanctioned
continue to get paid by the Russian Police, Russian Ministry of
Sports and Russian Regional sports organizations. Or we could
try to fight the system together. Most athletes in Russia do
not have such choice, as there is still not a single
organization in Russia that truly fights corruption in sports.
I want to continue to run and compete without doping and not
lie and listen to lies again.
The Russian doping system does not hate people that stay in
the system and get caught. It hates people that fight the
system. And we decided to fight it. We are now traitors to
Russia, but we know we've done the right thing.
From January 2013 until November 2014 I gained evidence by
recording sport officials, coaches and athletes discussing the
existing doping system in Russia. In December 2014, I gave some
of this evidence to German investigative journalist Hajo
Seppelt, and he made it public. In 2015, the World Anti-Doping
Agency Independent Commission investigated the situation in the
Russian track and field, and in November 2015, the WADA
Independent Commission report confirmed my and my husband's
statements and used a lot of the evidence that we provided
them. This report helped to move things forward and Dr.
Rodchenkov decided to tell the truth about the doping situation
in Russia as well.
From the beginning, it was our hope that we would be able
to get people to tell the truth. But we understand why others
have not become whistleblowers and are still inside of the
system as the fight against doping and corruption in Russian
sports is not easy. You will lose your job, your career and
even fear for the safety of you and your family. You will be
called a liar and a traitor if you stand up against the system,
that unfortunately still exists in Russian sports today.
Vitaly and I could never imagine that we would get this far
in raising our concerns about the doping situation in Russia.
We were not able to find much support inside of Russia, but we
were happy to see that most Russian sports officials were not
right. Not every country's goal is to cover up doping use of
athletes of their own country. In fact, rules do matter, and
ethics matters in sports.
I am glad to say that our efforts did not go unnoticed, and
we are glad that the situation in Russia is being discussed
globally. We feel that we are in a fight that is still not over
yet and we thank you for allowing us to share our story with
you. The best part for us over the past few years was to learn
that there are people that care about fair competition. We just
wish those people were louder and stronger because clean
athletes need to see it and feel it. A special thank you to
investigative journalists and the United States Anti-Doping
Agency for not staying away from the problem and for making
sports cleaner not just in the USA but in Russia as well.
I believe that criminalizing doping and strongly punishing
those that cheat in Olympic sports is a necessary step to make
sports better. We, as parents, deserve to know that our
children that participate on any level of competition are in
safe hands and gaining positive and ethical experiences. Sports
officials, coaches, managers, doctors, and anyone that decide
to take advantage of our children, the Olympic values, and
anti-doping rules must be strongly punished and banned from
sports for life.
Thank you very much.
Prepared Statement of Dagmar Freitag, Chairwoman, Sports Committee of
the German Bundestag
Dear Chairman Michael Burgess, Distinguished Commissioners,
Ladies and Gentleman,
Thank you for inviting me to Washington this afternoon. It
is my outmost pleasure to be part of this exclusive circle of
guests, who were asked to testify in a hearing, which focuses
on strategic and legal approaches to fight globalized
corruption and doping in international sport.
My presentation is based on my personal and professional
perspectives and experience, gained as MP in the German
Parliament, as longstanding vice-president of the German
Athletics Federation and member of the Supervisory Board of
Germany's National Anti-Doping Agency.
The reputation of international sports organizations is
simply disastrous. Doping, bribery, manipulation--all this
massively damages the integrity of sports and undermines the
values it is actually supposed to represent. In simple words:
We must stand up to international rule-breaking. I am fully
convinced, that this systematic rule breaking can only be
combatted successfully with systematic counterstrikes and--not
to be underestimated--international co-operation. As we witness
global sport bodies failing to protect the sports they
represent, we as politicians have to set up an effective
framework regulated by law and by doing so take the lead to
fight the various threats in sport.
Sport and sports organizations are unable to protect
themselves. And--this should not go unmentioned--in most cases
they are recognizably unwilling to do what they could do.
Moreover: We have to face the fact that some sports
organizations protect or even blackmail cheating athletes. One
of the worst examples was former President Lamine Diack in his
term of office in the International Association of Athletics
Federation (IAAF).
When the Russian doping system was uncovered, the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) showed a significant lack
of leadership and violation of the rights of clean athletes.
The reintegration of Russia into the so-called Olympic Family
at a much too early point--where not nearly all of the World
Anti-Doping Agency's requirements have been accomplished--is
not only a mistake, it is a severe attack on the integrity of
sports and their credibility.
But even those organizations that are willing to take every
step necessary to fight doping and corruption in sport, at some
point have to realize that their means are limited. Not only
resources--for example the number, intensity and intelligence
of doping tests--may be limited. They simply don't have the
tools state prosecutors and police bodies have. In the case of
suspected doping offences, police and public prosecutors can
conduct more intensive investigations than any sports
organization. Searching premises, confiscating possession or
tracking financial irregularities can be conducted by official
authorities only.
To make it clear: to root out doping and corruption in
sport, not only international co-operation, but also national
laws are useful and necessary.
Just to name some examples:
Referring to the doping cases of Marion Jones or Lance
Armstrong, USADA and the US law enforcement agencies have done
a great job uncovering the network behind the athletes. It was
a great success, as existing US laws allow close cooperation
between authorities and USADA. US legal authorities used the
``Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act''
to uncover FIFA's various corruption cases.
For several reasons I also support the proposed bill, the
``Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act''.
It broadens the focus and targets doping fraud violations
at major international competitions. From my point of view, the
Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act is a major step forward in the
international fight against doping. Let me point out two
important aspects:
Section 7 ``Statute of Limitation'' defines that no civil
suit may be brought unless brought within 10 years after the
offense was completed. As urine or blood samples are frozen and
stored for up to ten years and may be re-analyzed by accredited
labs, it is consistent that the limitation period does not go
below. Should the IOC, WADA or whatever organization extend
that period, it might be useful to mirror that progress in the
law.
I also recognize, that retaliation shall be unlawful. We
all know about individuals who were put under pressure and
forced to keep secrets. Some of those who resisted and
testified became outlaws in the world of sports. We have to
protect whistleblowers and penalize individuals, who threaten
or retaliate.
But let me also mention that I suggest to supplement the
definition of a doping fraud. Section 3 defines, that doping
fraud means the use of any performance-enhancing drug. In my
understanding it does not include manipulation of blood and
blood components, chemical and physical manipulation or gene
doping named as M1, M2 and M3 in the WADA's listing of
prohibited methods. Section 3 also defines, that the list of
performance-enhancing drugs shall be specified by the Secretary
of Health and Human Services on the basis of scientific and
international sports standards. From my point of view, it might
be useful to refer to the World Anti-Doping Code and the
prohibited list.
Fighting doping, manipulation, bribery eg. in sport is a
global challenge and can only be effectively counteracted by
implementing and executing legislation. I am pretty sure that
athletes would think twice about doping if they would risk
going to prison because of it. Compared to a temporary ban from
sport events, being imprisoned is really worrying. In some
countries anti-doping regimes are far more vigorous than in
others. Though the discussion is truly not new, we are still
facing a worldwide discrepancy in anti-doping legislation.
We also have to globally promote coordinated anti-doping
legislation as a response to counter the threat of cheating.
There is a variety of regional or even international
declarations and resolutions targeting the protection of
integrity in sports.
In 2013 Berlin hosted the 5th International Conference of
Ministers and Senior Officials Responsible for Physical
Education and Sport MINEPS V.
In the ``Berlin Declaration'' the ministers committed to
``consider the introduction of criminal sanctions which would
act as a deterrent against the manipulation of sport
competitions, and against doping in sport''.
In late 2016 the Council of Europe's Conference of
Ministers responsible for Sport addressed the role of
governments in the fight against doping and stressed the need
to revise their policy where necessary.
Just recently the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe adopted the Resolution 2199 ``Towards a framework for
modern sports governance'' and called for action to foster good
governance of sports.
With introducing the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act the U.S.
Helsinki Commission accepts these recommendations and takes an
important step in the fight against doping. I am fully
convinced, that anti-doping legislation is a crucial tool to
root out doping in sports. The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act and
today's hearing will support our joint efforts to serve the
clean athletes and protect the integrity of sports.
Prepared Statement of Jim Walden, Partner, Walden Macht & Haran LLP;
Attorney for Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov
Chairman Wicker, Co-Chairman Smith and Members of the
Commission:
I appreciate the opportunity to address the Commission
about the critical need for the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of
2018, H.R. 6067 (``RADA''). The information I offer here
derives from a number of sources, including sworn testimony
previously submitted by Dr. Rodchenkov to the International
Olympic Committee (``IOC''):
As I am sure the Commission is well aware, the problem with
organized doping fraud has not been, and cannot be, addressed
by the current international framework and its regulatory
bodies. Up until now, enforcing anti-doping rules has been
largely a measure of self-policing by international sports
organizations, such as the IOC, the World Anti-Doping Agency
(``WADA''), and the various international sports federations.
These organizations have proven to be ineffective at best and
complicit or corrupt at worse. Recent events--including Dr.
Rodchenkov's brave decision to reveal the pervasive state-
sponsored doping program in Russia--make clear that doping
fraud in international sports competitions is also a powerful
mechanism for larger campaigns of political aggression and
criminal activity against the United States, including money
laundering, bribery, fraud, drug trafficking, racketeering,
computer hacking, and other forms of corruption. The federal
guilty plea by Richard Lai, a former member of FIFA's Audit
Committee, for taking $850,000 in bribes is a powerful reminder
that many countries will do anything to win the right to host
major competitions and to have their athletes win there. This,
too, is true of doping fraud, as became clear when Austrian
criminal authorities raided the headquarters of the
International Biathlon Union in March of this year based, in
part, on Dr. Rodchenkov's disclosures about bribes paid to
cover-up anti-doping rule violations. In short, state sponsors
of doping fraud generally succeed by resorting to many other
forms of corruption, to the detriment of the United States.
Yet, the United States and other countries who send
athletes to participate in, and have corporations who support,
international sporting competitions do not have a legal
mechanism to hold aggressors accountable. Countries like
Russia--who victimize innocent athletes, corporations, and
financial institutions with impunity--have never been made to
answer for their criminal behavior. Even for those few
international sporting organizations that take doping fraud
seriously, such as the International Association of Athletics
Federations (``IAAF''), they lack tools to make the activity
stop and to bring justice to defrauded victims. No legislation
currently exists to criminalize international doping fraud or
provide redress to victims or brave whistleblowers in the form
of a civil remedy for damages. RADA has the potential to expose
international criminal activity and act as a deterrent against
those who attempt to injure our country's athletes and
retaliate against the brave individuals who unveil the truth.
The current international framework and its regulatory
structure fails us in several ways. First and foremost, even
with the best technology and ample resources, cheaters are
difficult to catch, given the myriad ways to take performance
enhancing drugs, or PEDs. Second, most international sporting
organizations do not have sufficient resources and the kinds of
technologies needed to catch the cheaters, even if they desired
to do so. Third, most international organizations use tough
talk about doping fraud, but their actions have been
extraordinarily weak because of the inherent conflicts of
interests under which they operate, as well as complicity and
corruption. The well documented case of Russian cheating at the
2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi is the clearest lens through
which to see the problems with existing structures.
State sponsored doping in Russian had, even by December
2014, been long suspected. For example, in July 2008, the
International Association of Athletics Federation (the
``IAAF'') suspended seven Russian track and field athletes
before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In response, the New
York Times observed: ``The number of suspensions, and the
varied events involved, raised troubling questions about
possible ineptitude or corruption in Russian drug-testing
procedures and also prompted concerns about whether a
deliberate, systematic attempt was made by coaches or officials
to undermine drug-testing protocols.'' \1\ In those cases, the
athletes were (not surprisingly) accused of tampering with
urine samples.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/sports/olympics/
O1doping.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The questions about the state-sponsored system have been
consistently raised (and unaddressed) ever since. When Yelena
Soboleva and Tatyana Tomashova (elite Russian middle distance
runners) were thrown out of the Beijing Games based on sample
substitution at collection sites (a practice well-used within
Russia for many years), the Chairperson of the IOC's Medical
Commission at the time (who was also Vice President of WADA),
Arne Ljungqvist, said: ``This does seem to be an example of
systematic planned doping . . . .'' \2\ Thus, it was certainly
no surprise to Dr. Rodchenkov (and should not have been a
surprise to anyone) that--after the IOC finally re-tested
stored urine sample from the Beijing Games-Russian athletes
represented 36% of the new doping violations discovered in the
reanalysis (16 of 44). \3\ It is no wonder, then, that when
WADA published its first major report of anti-doping rule
violations in 2013, the report found that Russia was the top
violator, with 225 violations and approximately 20% more
violations than second-place Turkey (with 188). \4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-1041882/Top-
Olympic-officialaccuses-Russian-athletes-systematic-planned-doping.html
\3\ https://www.doping.nl/media/kb/4412/IOC-reanalysis-programme-
final-eng.pdf
\4\ https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/
wada-2013-adrv-report-en.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then, in December 2014, a German documentary aired a hard-
hitting report containing secret recordings and official
documents which, taken together, demonstrated clear evidence of
systematic doping by Russian athletes. In response, WADA
convened an Independent Commission to investigate. In two
subsequent reports--on November 9, 2015 and January 14, 2016--
WADA's Independent Commission confirmed the existence of a
state-sponsored doping system in Russia.
Russia's reaction to the WADA reports was to deny and
obfuscate, while they prepared to make Dr. Rodchenkov the scape
goat. Dr. Rodchenkov denied them the opportunity to murder and
blame him by escaping Russia and then disclosing the truth
about Russia's state-sponsored doping system to the New York
Times on May 13, 2016. What did WADA do? It formed yet another
independent commission to investigate Dr. Rodchenkov's claims.
In two more reports--dated July 18, 2016, and December 9,
2016--WADA's independent commission thoroughly reviewed Dr.
Rodchenkov's evidence, and found additional forensic evidence
corroborating his claims that Russia systematically swapped
dirty urine samples with clean samples during the Olympic
Games.
After two Commissions and four reports laden with evidence
of the Russian state-sponsored doping system, what did the IOC
do? Almost nothing at first. It refused to ban Russia from the
Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. It then formed two
more Commissions to review the evidence amassed by WADA's
commissions. Not surprisingly, both of those Commissions also
found Dr. Rodchenkov's testimony completely credible. Still,
even with its own Commissions having confirmed a doping-fraud
scheme of epic proportions and byzantine complexity, the IOC
refused an outright ban of Russia from the 2018 Winter
Olympics, allowing Russian athletes to compete with Russian
insignia on their uniforms and offering to lift the suspension
so the Russian flag could fly during the closing ceremonies.
And I am fully confident the IOC would have done so had two
Russian athletes not been caught doping during the games,
forcing the IOC to keep the suspension in place until after the
games.
During his testimony before the IOC Commissions, Dr.
Rodchenkov presented overwhelming evidence of corruption and
doping fraud dating back decades, including acts of bribery and
money laundering to cover-up doping. He also disclosed Russian
bribery to win the opportunity to host the Sochi Games in the
first place. He disclosed the structure of the Russian doping
system, which went straight to the top of the Russian
Government, including the current Deputy Prime Minister of
Russia. Dr. Rodchenkov also made clear the pervasive nature of
the Russian state-sponsored doping program, which expanded its
tentacles across state boundaries, financial institutions, and
made a mockery of WADA accredited laboratories tasked with
detecting doping. He was not the only witness to make these
startling disclosures, but he certainly was the most important
whistleblower with the most sweeping knowledge of the many
Russian agencies necessary to make the scheme work, including
Russia's secret police. And, despite the willful and extensive
scheme and the hundreds of athletes and corporations who were
defrauded-surely the most brazen scheme in the history of
sports--Russia was suspended for a single edition of the winter
Olympics and then promptly reinstated. In the meantime, dozens
of athletes had their Olympic dreams stolen. All to say this:
the international regulatory bodies, WADA and the IOC, who have
been entrusted to hold counties like Russia accountable, have
failed. As a result, cheaters--whether individual or state
actors--who commit acts of international doping fraud have no
fear that they will be held accountable for their actions.
This sort of weak-kneed action and the absence of
accountability mechanisms has only emboldened Russia, as it
will embolden other cheaters. Indeed, throughout this saga,
Russia has denied responsibility and sought to blame and
retaliate against Dr. Rodchenkov. For example, on the very day
that Dr. Rodchenkov was scheduled to be interviewed by
Immigration officials in the U.S., Russia announced that it
brought charges against him for alleged drug trafficking.
Russia has harassed Dr. Rodchenkov's family, seized his
property, and is lobbying vigorously to force his return to
Russia, where it can silence him permanently. Despite relying
on his testimony and finding him credible, the IOC refused to
punish Russia or issue any sanctions. WADA alone demanded that
Russia cease its efforts, but WADA lacks any way to enforce
that demand. RADA directly calls for protection of
whistleblowers, like Dr. Rodchenkov, who must be supported to
shed light on the criminal activity that threatens the
integrity of international sports.
Based on my sorry experiences with the IOC, I asked the
Helsinki Commission to consider proposing legislation to create
a first-of-its-kind enforcement mechanism when I appeared
before the Commission on February 22, 2018. Having reviewed
H.R. 6067, I applaud the Commission for proposing legislation
that could be the dawn of a new day in anti-doping enforcement.
It provides sweeping protections for whistleblowers, like Dr.
Rodchenkov, and thus it will encourage more such whistleblowers
to come forward. It creates a private right of action for
athletes who were defrauded by doping cheats. And, most
importantly, it provides powerful criminal enforcement tools so
that the Department of Justice can make doping fraud a true
priority, thereby protecting U.S. athletes and corporations who
suffer damages at the hands of perpetrators. Once dopers and
their accomplices start going to jail, other dopers will be
finally deterred.
Dr. Rodchenkov asked that I make a short statement from
him: ``Again, I wish to apologize to the world for my part in
the Russian state-sponsored doping system. During the time I
ran the Moscow Lab, my orders came from the top of the Russian
Federation. Putin said `Russia must win at any cost,' and the
Ministry of Sports executed that command by substantially
improving our ability to administer PEDs secretly. To refuse to
go along would have been a death sentence. I hope that my
difficult decision to come forward and tell the truth will lead
to continuing reforms. I believe the Helsinki Commission's
leadership is critical, and I fully support the proposed
legislation. I am humbled and grateful it is named after me,
and I hope I can continue to be a force for good.''
[all]
This is an official publication of the
Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe.
