The Doping Scandal Rocking the Upcoming Olympics

from The New York Times I'm Natalie. kroof this is the. [Music]. daily a new doping Scandal is rocking. the world of competitive swimming as the. Paris Olympics. approach those allegations are raising. questions about fairness in the sport. and whether we can trust what we see at. these summer. games today.

one of the reporters who broke that. story Mike Schmidt explains the. controversy and what it reveals about. the struggle to police doping in. [Music]. sports it's Thursday June. [Music]. 27th Mike on Tuesday we saw two stars of. American swimming testify before.

Congress where they questioned the. fairness of their own Sport and of the. Olympic Games this was a pretty. remarkable moment tell me about what. happened Mr chairman members of the. committee good evening my name is. Michael Phelps and I come before you. Michael Phelps the most well-known. swimmer probably in American history. thank you for this opportunity to. address to you today on a matter of. crucial importance as we approach the. 2024 Olympic Games and Allison Schmidt.

one of the most accomplished female. swimmers in American history went up to. Capitol Hill to essentially say they had. lost complete faith in the system that. is supposed to ensure that there's a. Level Playing Field when you sit down. and watch Olympic athletes. compete and they started their argument. by telling the story of what it's been. like to be them now there are times.

where I would be blood and urine tested. twice a day they could be within a 30-. minute window they're taking four to six. vials of blood every time they test to. be Olympic athletes who gave basically. all of their privacy over to a drug. testing system from filling out forms to. update our whereabouts every hour of the. day where their whereabouts was always. known so a drug tester could find them. us pulling our pants down below blow our.

knees pulling our shirts up to our. breasts and having them watch the pee. come out and where it was so invasive. that they had to urinate directly in. front of a tester I knew at 17 years old. 16 years old that I was signing my. privacy my rights away for fair Sport. and clean Sport and they're basically. saying look in the hopes and dreams of. their being fair. sport they would play by the.

rules and wouldn't use drugs they. weren't supposed to but would also. essentially open their lives up to drug. testers and Mike if I understand it. correctly part of the reason they're so. enraged is that they say this isn't. happening everywhere other countries. aren't doing this they're saying the. more that we learn about how this system. works around the world the more that we. learn that not everyone.

is being held to the standard that we. were held to so there was a stat back in. 2016 when I was swimming that I had over. 150 drug tests during that year there. were other delegations as a whole that. were having 30 or 40 because of that how. can we trust anything that we see that. goes on at the Olympics and and honestly. I I think if we continue to let this. slide any farther the Olympic Games. might not even be.

[Music]. okay so why now why are they coming to. Congress and saying this right now these. decorated swimmers were up on Capitol. Hill because of a story my colleague TK. pan and I wrote two months. ago The Story begins at at the height of.

the pandemic it was early. 2021 the Summer Olympics were just a. couple of months away and the Chinese. swimming Association wanted to hold a. meat to essentially allow their swimmers. who had been training in seclusion to. practice. competition so all of the elite Chinese. swimmers congregated in the same city. south of Beijing and there over several.

days they swam against each other the. swimmers like they normally are at Major. meets were being drug. tested but what no one knew was that. 23 out of the 39 athletes who were. tested showed that they all had the same. performance-enhancing drug in their. system.

[Music]. that's a lot of positives I mean 23 out. of 39 is more than half of everyone. tested it's a staggering number and it's. all for the same drug a drug called. trimetazidine it's known as TMZ it's a. prescription heart medication used to. treat people that have chest pains that. have angina it's supposed to make the. heart work more effec efficiently and.

allow those with heart disease to exert. themselves in ways that they're often. unable to so this helps for training. correct this drug is popular amongst. dopers for several reasons it allows you. to train harder and if you train harder. that means that you will be in better. shape and more capable when you finally. get to a competition it's also.

attractive because it quickly clears. through an athlete system so if an. athlete is trying to find a window. between drug tests to use a drug this. would be a good one because it's not. going to stay in your system for too too. long and Mike I'm assuming this drug. then is on the ban substances list it's. it's penalized harshly the drug is.

classified in the highest level of. substances that can help an athlete if. you have any amount of it in your system. you're potentially on the hook for a. 4year ban wow so for the Chinese this. was a nightmare scenario it's just. months before the Summer Olympics and. you're looking at the possibility of. essentially half of your swimming team.

not being able to go to the games. because they were. doping okay so what happens what do they. do so the Chinese engaged in a WID scale. investigation and scientific research. effort to explain what happened and we. know this because we've obtained a. lengthy secret Chinese document.

that lays out how they investigated the. positive. tests they brought in the top law. enforcement agency in the country to. investigate it and they said that a. couple of months after the athletes. tested positive investigators found. Trace Amounts of. TMZ in the kitchen of a hotel where the. athletes were fed they say that this.

prescription heart drug was found in. spice. containers in the hood over the grill W. and in the drainage so the Chinese. anti-doping agency finds that all of. these swimmers test positive for this. drug that should prompt suspension but. instead of suspending them they say. these swimmers tested positive because. of. contamination not because they were. intentionally doping to improve their.

performance the Chinese say that this. was evidence that the athletes had been. contaminated with the drug and because. of this explanation we are not going to. discipline the swimmers but what the. Chinese are unable to explain is how the. drug got into the kitchen and why it was. there it sounds like there's a lot that. is unexplained. in all of this I mean the entire Theory.

seems a little. questionable there are contamination. cases and there are drugs that sometimes. end up in food because they're given to. cows and athletes eat the cows and it's. in their system TMZ is not one of those. drugs this is a prescription heart. medication and the Chinese are unable to. explain. why a prescription heart medication.

ended up in a kitchen or how the. athletes even ingested it and under the. code that is supposed to govern Olympic. athletes you can have what are called. essentially no fault contaminations in. which an athlete is not penalized for. testing positive for a drug but to do. that you essentially need to prove. exactly how it happened and the Chinese.

explanation according to anti-doping. experts who've looked at this and. studied it doesn't rise to that level. and not to hit you over the head with. more inside doping code. minutia under the way the system is. supposed to work each country is. supposed to police their own athletes if. those countries fail to do that properly. the world anti-doping agency this entity.

that is supposed to ensure the Level. Playing Field and Olympic sports is. supposed to step in and essentially take. over and prosecute the case to make sure. that the rules are followed and that. athletes are properly disciplined okay. so what do they do in this case in this. case the world anti-doping agency. essentially comes in looks at the ch.

explanation and. accepts the rationale that these. athletes were contaminated with this. prescription heart. drug and without anyone knowing these. swimmers who tested positive head to the. 2021 Olympics and have some of the. greatest success in Chinese swimming. history a male swimmer who had tested. positive for TMZ becomes the second man. in Chinese history to win a gold in.

swimming a female swimmer who had tested. positive won two gold medals and one. silver and the most dramatic example. comes in the women's 4x200 relay RS. China up for the. challenge talent across the Chinese team. they're the Asian Games. Champions two of the four swimmers on. the Chinese team had tested positive for. TMZ United States of America United.

States are in Lane. five Allison Schmidt Paige Madden. Catherine M K for the United States. Allison Schmidt who testified on Capitol. Hill is the first swimmer in the. water looks as though China getting off. to a good start and so too for much of. the race China and Australia are neck. and neck but the Australians still can't. shake off the attentions of China top. three Jang is remaining tough and what a.

way to do it 200 flying even coming back. on the Australians now but then while. Lei is racing in the water for the USA. the USA could steal this whole thing. with Lei now in the final leg Kate Lei. the greatest female swimmer of her. generation gets in the water and closes. the distance I think we may have a. change of leader when it comes to the 50. m to go Mark China just hanging on lei. what has she got left she loves to race.

for the Stars and Stripes look at that. underwater this is a wild finish at the. end of the women's four by 200 freestyle. China have broken Australia but Katy Lei. on the charge and as it comes down the. stretch the United States pulls into. second China still in front fast. finishing K lki is giving everything to. this final and in the final moment with. 5 m to go can China hang on as the. swimmers are approaching the Wall China. strike go just in front of the United.

States it's a new world record of course. it is a Chinese swimmer hits the wall. first by less than half a second giving. China the gold and the United States the. silver and what a swim from the. Americans you write them off at your. peril and that's what it means to China. a world record a huge world record. 74033 and their first gold in the 4x200.

Freestar Reay at the Olympic Games what. a team I honestly have chills hearing. this I mean this is an extremely tight. race which we're now learning based on. your reporting was potentially. fundamentally. unfair and as Phelps and Schmidt said. when they testified before. Congress all of this calls into question. the larger system was the system that.

was supposed to ensure that athletes. were all competing on the same playing. field was that functioning was this a. race in which athletes were showing. their natural abilities or that. something else was at. [Music]. play we'll be right back.

Mike let's talk about that larger system. that failed to expose these positive. tests by Chinese swimmers that kept. these tests hidden it sounds like one. potential issue is that the system. relies on self-policing on the idea that. countries will punish their own athletes. when they find evidence of doping which. doesn't totally make sense to me if I'm. honest there are these perverse. incentives right for many countries to.

not actually root out doping when they. find it because I mean number one they. want to win medals and number two they. don't want to damage the reputation of. their athletes why does the system work. this way one of the reasons that it was. set up this way is that it was just too. logistically hard to have the world. anti-doping agency also known as water. trying to track thousands and thousands. of Olympic athletes around the world. World they needed the countries to be.

able to administer the testing and to. prosecute the cases because it would. have been too much it would have been. too cumbersome but for there to be. checks and balances and for Independence. and rules and facts to be followed wada. was supposed to make sure that those. countries were doing their job that they. were holding their athletes accountable. and they had the power to step in and in. those cases in which they said hey this.

doesn't look right more needs to be done. they could come in and prosecute the. cases but what happens here is that when. wada finds out about this and they get. this explanation from the. Chinese they essentially take it at face. value they don't insert themselves as. they've done in other cases to try and. discipline the athletes and keep them. out of the wall. and because the system is so reliant on.

trust and on W doing their job to make. sure that everyone's following the. rules when W's credibility comes into. question the whole system comes into. question and that's the point that. Phelps and Schmidt were making when they. were sitting before Congress under oath. they were saying can this thing this. thing that athletes have given. themselves to that they have allowed.

into their lives to ensure that they and. others are following the rules is this. thing legit or is it a. charade Mike it feels like a lot of this. comes down to a pretty central question. which is why did wada this institution. that's supposed to be a back stop just. accept China's explanation for the. doping which as you've said seemed a. little suspect wat says that it accepted.

the Chinese argument basically because. all of the athletes had similarly low. levels of this drug in their system the. science looked like it had come from. ingestion all of the swimmers who tested. positive were staying at the same Hotel. swimmers who had not been staying at the. hotel did not test positive and that it. was just simply. too hard to disprove what the Chinese.

were putting forward and that if they. tried to prosecute the case themselves. they wouldn't have been successful and. they wouldn't have been able to stop. them from competing at the Olympics but. a lot of people don't buy it they don't. buy that that was enough to not do. anything and look we don't know the. answer we don't have full visibility. into what went down here. wada has appointed a investigator to.

look into this to see whether they gave. China preferential treatment and whether. this was handled properly that report is. supposed to come out before the. Olympics but in the. void as people have looked at this they. have speculated about why is it that. this happened and one of the theories. put forward a sort of dark one had has. been wada didn't want to embarrass China.

especially at a time when China was. moving Heaven and Earth to do the. Olympic movement as solid by holding the. 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing games. that they were trying to pull off at the. height of a pandemic in a country that. was shut down and other theories have. been that the Olympic movement doesn't. really want to go out and Harnish their. own sports and put out there the notion.

that these games may not be being played. on a Level Playing Field but Mike. doesn't it tarnish the sport more to. find evidence of doping and not report. it I mean doesn't it damage the. reputation of swimming of the Olympics. to not complain about this stuff not if. you're able to keep it secret because if. you're able to keep it secret then you. don't ever have to deal with the. ramifications of it but if in the leadup.

to an Olympics you had to suspend half. of a country's swimming team so they. couldn't compete that would cast a. really dark cloud over the games and at. the end of the day there's an enormous. amount of money on the line here and. sports first instinct is not necessarily. to tarnish its own product as much as. these games are about you know Athletics. and and competition it's about making.

money and do you want to tarnish that. product do you want to undermine it in. the eyes of fans and raise the question. oh gosh is this really a Level Playing. Field or are there cheaters who are out. there and if it remains secret you don't. have to deal with that and the only. reason we know about this case is. because of you're reporting which makes.

me wonder whether you think there may be. other examples of this that we haven't. yet heard about look I don't know what I. don't know but the problem is is that. when you learn about things like this it. calls everything else into question if. this was happening here why was it. happening and what does it mean for. everything else after all your reporting. Mike I have to ask if you actually think. that we can trust what we see in the.

Olympics next month that that we're. going to be watching the best athletes. from all over the world who have trained. for years for this put their bodies to. the test and Achieve these miraculous. Feats based not on drugs but on their. Merit I mean when you watch the Olympics. will you trust that well we know that 11. of the Chinese swimmers who tested. positive for TMZ will be going to this.

Olympics in Paris to. compete they have faced no consequence. and will be in the Water Swimming. against American swimmers who have you. know been subject to this rigorous drug. testing program oh but I've wondered. about this question too right what. should we think when we tune into the. Olympics should we look at it and sort. of just kind of let it go and enjoy it.

for what it is or should we look at it. more. skeptically I don't really know the. answer so what I did was I went to the. chief broadcaster of the Olympics. NBC and I asked them essentially that. same question I said as the The Entity. that is in charge of putting this thing. out that is in charge of the pipe in. which everyone will get the Olympics are. you confident that you'll be.

broadcasting an Olympics in which the. athletes will be competing on a Level. Playing. Field and NBC acknowledged receiving the. email they said that they got. it and they never got back to. me and in all of this it was a bit. telling that the chief broadcaster of. the Olympics couldn't answer the basic. question. about whether fans could trust what.

they're going to be. [Music]. seeing Mike thank you so much thanks for. having. [Music]. me we'll be right back. [Music].

here's what else you need to know today. the Supreme Court handed the Biden. administration of victory in a First. Amendment case on Wednesday it was a. case that involved government officials. urging social media platforms to take. down posts on topics like the Corona. virus vaccine and election fraud which. they believed were spreading. misinformation two Republican Attorneys. General and several others had sued. arguing that that communication violated. the First Amendment but the court. rejected their argument in a 6 to3.

decision with Justice Amy Coney Barrett. writing the majority opinion where she. said that the plaintiffs didn't have. standing to sue because they hadn't. suffered direct. injury and the Supreme Court looks. poised to temporarily allow abortions in. Idaho When a Woman's Health is at risk. that's according to Bloomberg News which. obtained a copy of an opinion that. briefly appeared on the Court's website. if that document reflects the Justice's. final decision it would re State a. ruling by a lower federal court that.

paused Idaho's near total ban on. abortion to allow hospitals in the state. to perform the procedure in emergencies. in order to protect the health of the. mother today's episode was produced by. Ricky nety Carlos PTO and Michael Simon. Johnson it was edited by Lisa Chow. contains original music by Maran Lozano. Alicia beup and Dan pal and was. engineered by Chris Wood our theme music. is by Jim brunberg and Ben lansburg of.

[Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Natalie kro see you tomorrow. [Music].