Title

The State of Play

Wednesday, July 25, 2018
2:00pm
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 562
Washington, DC 20515
United States
Unofficial Transcript: 
PDF icon Doping Hearing Unofficial Transcript.pdf
Members: 
Name: 
Representative Chris Smith
Title Text: 
Co-Chairman
Body: 
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Name: 
Senator Ben Cardin
Title Text: 
Ranking Senate Commissioner
Body: 
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Name: 
Representative Michael Burgess
Title Text: 
Commissioner
Body: 
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Name: 
Representative Sheila Jackson Lee
Title Text: 
Commissioner
Body: 
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Statement: 
PDF icon 20180725 - Jackson Lee Opening Statement.pdf
Witnesses: 
Name: 
Dagmar Freitag
Title: 
Chairwoman
Body: 
Sports Committee of the German Bundestag
Statement: 
PDF icon III. Testimony IV. Dagmar Freitag.PDF
Name: 
Yuliya Stepanova
Title: 
World-class Russian athlete and anti-doping whistleblower
Statement: 
PDF icon III. Testimony III. Yuliya Stepanova.pdf
Name: 
Travis Tygart
Title: 
CEO
Body: 
U.S. Anti-Doping Agency
Statement: 
PDF icon III. Testimony I. Travis Tygart.pdf
Name: 
Katie Uhlaender
Title: 
U.S. Olympian
Statement: 
PDF icon III. Testimony II. Katie Uhlaender FINAL.pdf
Name: 
Jim Walden
Title: 
Partner, Walden Macht & Haran LLP
Body: 
Attorney for Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov
Statement: 
PDF icon III. Testimony V. Jim Walden.pdf

Doping in international sport defrauds clean athletes and sponsors, and is inextricably linked with globalized corruption. However, international sports bodies like FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) appear unable or unwilling to curtail it. While the United States acts against many other forms of transnational crime, doping remains largely unpunished.

Courageous whistleblowers have brought to light the unprecedented extent to which Russia has sought to defraud the international community through doping. Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Moscow anti-doping lab, and Yuliya Stepanova, a world-class Russian athlete, revealed a complex web of deception that enabled Russia to cheat at international sporting events going back decades.

To root out doping and corruption in international sport, Helsinki Commissioners Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18) and Rep. Michael Burgess, M.D., (TX-26) recently introduced the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (RADA). The bipartisan legislation establishes civil remedies and criminal penalties for doping fraud violations at major international competitions. Helsinki Commissioners Rep. Gwen Moore (WI-04) and Rep. Steve Cohen (TN-09) cosponsored the bill.

Witnesses at this hearing discussed this legislation and explored the impact of doping fraud and its relationship to globalized corruption.