BIDEN on Doping in Sports: Our Standards Must Be Tougher
BIDEN: “These substances not only pose great health risks, but they threaten the fundamental integrity of sport and send the wrong message to our kids -- that cheating to get ahead is acceptable, no matter the cost.”
May 22, 2008
Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) held a hearing this morning entitled, “International Convention Against Doping in Sports.” The Committee is charged with examining whether the United States should join the International Convention Against Doping in Sport, which is a requirement for any nation looking to host future Olympic Games. This hearing is especially timely given that the city of Chicago is bidding to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The Committee heard from two panels of expert witnesses. The first panel included Scott Burns, Deputy Director in the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and Joan Donoghue, Principal Deputy Legal Adviser in the Department of State. The second panel included former Olympic medalist Jair Lynch, a current Board Member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and Travis Tygart, Executive Director of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
The full text of Sen. Biden’s opening statement from this morning’s hearing is below:
“Today, the Committee examines whether the United States should join the International Convention Against Doping in Sport.
“Throughout history, athletes have tried to improve their performance on the playing field through use of improper substances. In the 20th Century, governments even got into the act – such as when East Germany tried to build an Olympic powerhouse by use of doping. As many as two thousand former East German athletes are now suffering significant health problems associated with steroid use, including cancer and heart disease.
“Today, we continue to struggle with the problem of doping in sport. American athletes – in both Olympic and professional sports – are not immune from the temptation to abuse steroids and other substances.
“Profound medical advances have resulted in the development of a wide variety of drugs, some of which can be abused to artificially advance muscle growth and rejuvenation on a level previously unimagined.
“A quick review of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s List of Prohibited Substances indicates the breadth of performance-enhancing drugs available: hormones, steroids, oxygen enhancements, beta-blockers, even ‘gene doping.’ While many of these drugs can be used for legitimate purposes, they can also be abused by athletes seeking to acquire a competitive edge. Quite simply, this is cheating.
“In the last two decades, the United States and the world community have responded to these developments with an increasing commitment to curb doping in sports.
“Along with many others, I have been closely involved in this effort. In 1990, when I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I wrote the Anabolic Steroids Control Act, which added ‘anabolic steroids’ to Schedule Three of the Controlled Substances Act and began to list a host of substances falling within that definition. In 2004, I proposed legislation to update that law and added the substances ‘THG’ and ‘Andro,’ and their chemical cousins, to the list of anabolic steroids.
“The reasons for these changes were simple: these substances not only pose great health risks, but they threaten the fundamental integrity of sport and send the wrong message to our kids – that cheating to get ahead is acceptable, no matter the cost.
“So I worked hard to ban these substances, educate our youth and professional athletes, and reduce this wrongful behavior in American sports.
“In the late 1990s, the international community came together to establish the World Anti-Doping Agency to promote and coordinate the fight against doping in international sports competition. The United States, at that time, played a leading role in the establishment of the Agency and has long been one of its strongest supporters. One of the Agency’s most significant achievements was the development of a uniform set of anti-doping rules in what is known as the World Anti-Doping Code.
“The International Convention Against Doping in Sport, which commits parties to the principles of the Code and reaffirms the World Anti-Doping Agency’s role in implementing the Code, is the next logical step in promoting harmonized, coordinated, and effective anti-doping programs in international sports competitions.
“On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, it is timely for the Senate to consider the issue of doping in sports.
“The Foreign Relations Committee is addressing this issue and expediting the Convention for a very practical reason: the International Olympic Committee has made clear that nations seeking to host the Olympic Games must be party to this Convention.
“The City of Chicago is bidding to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, and so we are acting promptly on the Convention – just a few months after it was submitted to the Senate – at the request of our colleagues from Illinois, as well as Mayor Daley and the Chicago Olympic Committee.
“In closing, I would state that the United States should have the same anti-doping code across all sports. Our standards are not as tough as the Olympic standards. I believe that we should have the same code for national sports as we do for international competitions and I intend to work toward this goal in my capacity on the Judiciary Committee.
“We have two panels today.
“First, we will hear from the Honorable Scott M. Burns and Ms. Joan Donoghue. Mr. Burns has served as the Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy since December 2007. He has also worked extensively with the World Anti-Doping Agency, including as U.S. representative to the Agency in 2003 and as the regional representative for the Americas on the Agency’s Executive Committee. Ms. Donoghue is the Principal Deputy Legal Advisor for the Department of State. She previously served as the deputy general counsel for the Department of the Treasury.
“Our second panel consists of Mr. Jair Lynch and Mr. Travis Tygart. Mr. Lynch is a board member of the United States Olympic Committee and a two-time United States Olympic gymnast. Mr. Lynch won the silver medal for parallel bars at the Summer Olympics held in Atlanta in 1996. Mr. Tygart is the Executive Director of the United States Anti-Doping Agency. He has been with the Agency since 2002 and served as director of legal affairs before becoming General Counsel in 2004.”
