Legendary American swimmer Michael Phelps has called for a “zero tolerance” policy that bars anyone caught doping from ever competing in the Olympics again.
The swimming great’s tough stance comes in the wake of the doping scandal involving Chinese swimmers that only just came to light earlier this year.
Nine swimmers who tested positive for banned substances ahead of the Tokyo Olympics won medals at this year’s Paris Games, which has not pleased Phelps and other swimmers, including Britain’s Adam Peaty.
“If you test positive, you should never come back to compete, I can say that very clearly,” Phelps said during the competition. Monday’s press conference“I believe once.”
A total of 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned substances before the Tokyo Olympics, and it was only after media reports this year that the World Anti-Doping Agency and World Aquatics Federation publicly acknowledged this.
Both agencies accepted China’s explanation that contaminated food was the cause of the positive tests.
“It really hurts me to see people who have worked so hard for the last four years to get to the Olympics and have that work taken away because of someone cheating,” Phelps said. “This is wrong, and I stand by that and I always will.”
2024 Paris Olympics
Peaty expressed his own frustration with the situation on Sunday after China won the men’s 4x100m medley, and Phelps said Chinese athletes should not have competed in this year’s Olympics.
Phelps said that during his Olympic career, he underwent additional testing to eliminate any doubt about his chances of winning the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“If we’re not all having the same tests, I have a serious problem with that because it means the level of the sport is unfair and unequal,” he said. “If you take that kind of risk, you don’t belong here.”
Phelps also had a strong message for those who cheated.
“Please, go watch the cheaters compete,” he said. “The Olympics should be about integrity.”
