Antidoping Officials Get an Earful From Congress: ‘What a Broken System’
By Rebecca R. Ruiz, The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Federal lawmakers excoriated international sports officials on Tuesday for what they called a bungled response to the Russian doping scandal, with delayed investigations, insufficient sanctions and a lack of interest in rooting out cheating that has tarnished the Olympic brand.
During a two-hour hearing called by a House subcommittee, Democrats and Republicans chastised representatives of the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency, the regulator of drugs in sports.
“What a broken system,” Representative Jim Walden, Republican of Oregon and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said, asking why WADA — to which the United States is the largest national contributor — took years to act on the multiple whistle-blower tips it had received from within Russia, pursuing investigations only after news media reports…
…Mr. Nelson — who inherited a gold medal roughly a decade after he had competed, after a reporter informed him a competitor had been disqualified for doping — said he wanted to ensure officials would not “sweep this under the rug.”
He was presented with his gold medal in the food court of an Atlanta airport, a fact numerous representatives seized on, arguing for a ceremony to honor the dozens of athletes who have retroactively won medals because of the rash of doping disqualifications over the last year.
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