23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps will be in Washington next week to testify in front of the Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations in the U.S. Congress, according to a report from USA TODAY Sports.
Phelps, along with U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart, shot put Olympic gold medalist Adam Nelson and two others, will appear in a hearing entitled “Ways to Improve and Strengthen the Anti-Doping System.”
This will not be the first time Phelps is speaking out on behalf of anti-doping efforts. At the Olympic Games in Rio, he saw fit to comment after his U.S. teammate Lilly King beat out Russia’s Yulia Efimova for gold in the women’s 100 breast after the Russian had twice been suspended for doping.
“It’s sad that today in sports in general, not just only swimming, there are people who are testing positive who are allowed back in the sport — and multiple times… I believe sport should be clean and sport should be on an even playing field, and I think that it’s sad that in sports toady we have people who are testing positive not only once but twice and still having the opportunity to swim at this Games,” Phelps said.
A pair of U.S. representatives from either side of the aisle explained to USA TODAY Sports the purpose of the hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 28.
“For centuries, the Olympic Games have been a source of inspiration and pride, bringing nations and cultures together in the spirit of competition. In recent years, however, the specter of doping has reemerged, tarnishing the image of the games and raising new questions about the fairness of international sport,” Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said in a joint statement, according to USA TODAY.
Also present at the hearing will be IOC medical and science director Robert Budgett and WADA deputy director general Rob Koehler.
Read more from USA TODAY Sports by clicking here.