Michael Phelps has reinforced his stance on stricter penalties, advocating for a lifetime ban for anyone who tests positive for a banned substance.
“If you test positive, you should never be allowed to come back and compete again, cut and dry,” Phelps told the Associated Press on Monday. “I believe one and done.”
Phelps, 39, is the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 28 medals, 23 of them gold. Given his success, he claimed he was always under scrutiny.
“People called me a cheater throughout my career,” Phelps said. “I subjected myself to more testing—blood and urine—weekly. Why? So that I could say I’m not cheating, and I am clean, and here are the results.”
“I did it the clean way. I won 23 Olympic gold medals the clean way. It can be done.”
The legendary swimmer—who was caught smoking marijuana in 2008 but never tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance—said he was always clean. However, Phelps doesn’t believe he can say the same about his past opponents.
“I don’t think I ever competed on an even playing field or a clean field,” he said. Since retiring from the sport after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, Phelps has become outspoken about anti-doping efforts. He recently testified before Congress, calling for major systematic reforms.
Michael Phelps slams WADA's anti-doping efforts in House testimony Wednesday:
“If the international sports world continues to have its integrity impacted by failures at WADA, the next generation isn't going to be able to have the same belief that I once had in the system.” pic.twitter.com/ExVmUlya1j
— The Recount (@therecount) June 26, 2024
“What has to happen is everybody has to come together and figure out one way to test everybody all over the world. Period,” Phelps said. “And if you test positive, you should never be allowed to come back and compete again.
“It does break my heart to see people put hard effort into four straight years to prepare for an Olympic Games, then to have it taken away from them by somebody who is cheating. It’s not right. I stand for that, and I will always stand for that.”
Although Chinese swimmers have been drug-tested twice as much as athletes from some other nations this year before heading to Paris, their performances have been met with skepticism.
Right after the medley event on Monday, Team GB’s Adam Peaty criticized the Chinese team, saying, “There’s no point winning if you’re not winning fair.”
HE DID IT AGAIN!
🥇 Pan Zhanle just swam the FASTEST 100M freestyle swimming split EVER and led China to victory in the 4×100 Medley Relay.
Days after breaking his own world record at the 100m freestyle. Insane level of dominance. pic.twitter.com/JZO7a1RpyJ
— Orikron 🇵🇹 (@orikron) August 4, 2024
China’s Pan Zhanle—who had not been among the revealed names of positive test results—told Chinese media that he felt the team was “looked down on” by some foreign swimmers. He added that Australia’s Kyle Chalmers had snubbed him when he tried to say hello.
Zhang Yufei, who won a silver and five bronze medals in Paris, pointed out a double standard.
“Why should Chinese swimmers be questioned when they swim fast? Has anyone questioned Michael Phelps when he won so many medals? Why does the Western media not question Katie Ledecky when she dominated? It’s ridiculous,” she asked in a press conference.
The press release also highlighted the case of US sprinter Erriyon Knighton. Knighton, a world silver medalist who is competing in the men’s 200m sprint this week, was not suspended after testing positive for the banned substance trenbolone earlier this year.
They said that the cause of the result was most likely contaminated meat, similar to the reason given by the 23 Chinese competitors who tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) and claimed the positive results were due to tainted meat. The news of the positive tests came in April 2024 following an investigation by The New York Times, which the World Anti-Doping Agency and World Aquatics have since acknowledged.