Mack Horton, Michael Phelps, lead athletes in US Congress plea to get tough on drug cheats

Mack Horton and American superstar Michael Phelps have led athletes in a pitch to US Congress to pass a new law which will build trust in WADA after last year’s furore around Chinese athletes.

Australian Olympic swimming champion Mack Horton has appeared before a United States Congress subcommittee to help persuade the American government into passing a new law aimed at rebuilding trust in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in the wake of last year’s furore around the Chinese.

Appearing on a video that was shown to a Senate hearing that included both allies and opponents of President Donald Trump, Horton joined Olympic legend Michael Phelps and other leading athletes in asking Congress to pass the Restoring Confidence in WADA Act.

“It’s frustrating in sport when we see nations and systems that don’t adhere to the rules as other nations do and that aren’t enforced as other nations and other systems do,” Horton said on the video.

Australia’s Mack Horton has been a strong advocate for clean sport, highlighted by this occasion in 2019, when he refused to share the podium with Sun Yang. Picture: AFP

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The Act will give the US Office of National Drug Control Policy the authority to withhold its membership payments to WADA and try to push the global anti-doping watchdog into governance reforms.

The timing is critical for Australian athletes with the Socceroos having already qualified for next year’s FIFA World Cup, taking place in North America, before Los Angeles and Olympics and Paralympics in 2028.

“Since the Chinese doping scandal came to light, WADA has done everything it can to intimidate advocates for fair play and stonewall Congress,” US Senator Marsha Blackburn said.

“With the Commerce Committee passing my bipartisan Restoring Confidence in the World Anti-Doping Agency Act, we have sent a message to WADA that accountability and oversight are coming.”

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Michael Phelps has questioned the World Anti-Doping Agency’s handling of the Chinese case. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

American anti-drugs crusaders have been at odds with WADA ever since this masthead broke the bombshell news last year that 23 top Chinese swimmers were secretly let off after testing positive to a banned heart drug in 2021.

The news set off a tsunami of complaints about WADA, with USADA chief executive Travis Tygart, the most outspoken critic of the global regulator. Needless to say, he welcomed the intervention of Congress.

“We are more optimistic than ever that WADA will be fixed, and U.S. taxpayer funding will not be wasted by continuing to fund an organisation lacking independence, transparency, and accountability,” Tygart said.

“There can be no double standards when it comes to fairness in Olympic and Paralympic sport, and while we all want a strong, independent WADA, it has a long way to go to regain the confidence of all stakeholders, including the U.S. government, as evidenced by the approval of this Act.”

Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

WADA has always strongly refuted any suggestions the Chinese swimmers were treated leniently, saying all the swimmers who tested positive to trimetazidine were victims of an accidental contamination and not cheats.

WADA has also fired back at USADA’s criticisms of the way he goes about its work, accusing the Americans of ignoring flagrant problems in their own backyard while pointing the finger at foreign countries for political gain.

The global regulator declined a request to appear at the subcommittee hearing but in an email to this masthead, a spokesman said the agency stood by its previous claims that USADA was trying to divert attention from its own failings and trying to undermine the fight against drugs in sport.

The World Anti-Doping Agency maintains it has always followed the rules. Picture: AFP

“It is telling that other relevant organisations, including World Aquatics (which independently came to the same conclusion as WADA when reviewing the cases), the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), did not participate – reinforcing WADA’s view that the political hearing was intended by USADA simply to undermine confidence in the global anti-doping system, sow division within the anti-doping community, and distract from its own failures to address serious deficiencies with anti-doping in the U.S,” WADA said.

“Unfortunately, matters in the U.S. are only promising to get worse with last month’s announcement by the Enhanced Games organisation that its inaugural edition would take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2026.

“It is striking that this event, which dangerously and irresponsibly encourages athletes to dope, is going ahead in the U.S.”