In response to recent podium protests at the 2019 World Championships, 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps voiced his views on athletes protesting during medal ceremonies when the other medalists have doping convictions.
“I love how people are standing up and voicing their opinion,” Phelps said. “But at the end of the day, there’s only one person, only one group of people who can really change this. That’s FINA. When FINA wants to do something, wants to change how this sport is seen after all these positive drug tests that are occurring, after all this controversy, maybe they’ll do something about it. It’s in their hands, in their control,” reports AP News.
Phelps’ statements come in response to controversial podium protests by Australian Mack Horton and Great Britain’s Duncan Scott in response to the presence and participation of Chinese swimmer Sun Yang‘s at the 2019 FINA World Championships, which concluded Sunday in Gwangju, South Korea. On the first day of the meet, Horton didn’t even step onto the podium to receive his silver medal in the 400 freestyle, which was won by Sun. For his actions, FINA issued a ‘warning letter’ to Horton.
Days later, during the victory ceremony for the 200 freestyle, which Sun also won following the disqualification of Danas Rapsys of Lithuania, Scott stood on the podium to receive his bronze medal, but refused to shake hands or pose for pictures with Sun. As the two were leaving the podium, Sun confronted Scott, getting within inches of his face to tell the British swimmer something to the effect of “You lose, I win.” The confrontation earned them both warnings from FINA, and the organization made a statement on medal ceremony conduct in general. Sun and Rapsys, however, were seen behaving amiably on the pool deck following the 200 freestyle.
Sun was cleared to compete at the 2019 World Championships by an independent FINA anti-doping panel despite an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport over a quarrel he had with anti-doping testing officials in which he is alleged to have instructed a bodyguard to smash a vial of his own blood. Refer to the following stories for more information on Sun’s blood vial controversy:
- Daily Telegraph Unearths Full 59-page Report From 2018 Sun Blood Vial Incident
- Sun Yang Expected to Face CAS Hearing in September
- CAS Clarifies Sun Yang Hearing Timeline, Explains Inability to Expedite
- WADA Appeals to Court of Arbitration of Sport in Sun Yang Decision
- FINA Won’t ‘Consider Further Speculation and Hearsay’ About Sun Yang
- Vial of Sun Yang’s Blood Allegedly Smashed With Hammer In Drug Test Altercation
Though Phelps seems to support the outspokenness of swimmers who want to stand up to those known to have committed doping offenses, he acknowledges that in doing so, swimmers are also shifting their focus from their own goals.
“When your energy goes into that, it takes away from your swimming,” Phelps said. “I was very clear how frustrated I was that people chose to use performance-enhancing drugs instead of preparing themselves, putting in the work and putting in the training and doing what it takes to be a champion instead of taking the easy way out. But I wasn’t going to waste my time and my energy to focus on somebody else and what they were doing. That was out of my control.”
“I’m sure Shirley Babashoff didn’t want to stand up next to the East Germans to receive a silver medal,” said Phelps, paying homage to Babashoff who, at the 1976 Olympics, called out the notorious East Germans for their systematic doping.
“Nothing has changed from 40 years ago. That’s where I really, really struggle. FINA can do something about this, but they refuse to do something about this. That’s upsetting,” says Phelps.
I don’t know. Isn’t everyone supposed to be innocent until proven guilty? As much as I understand Scott and Horton (I would definitely do the same but hey, I’m not a pro swimmer so, doesn’t count), I think they should be careful. Their accusations are based on what? They don’t do the drug tests. They can’t know for sure what’s going on with Sun. They have to trust the ones in charge or get some inside job evidence and make it public.
Might as well take a knee both do nothing and just piss people off
If you don’t stand up and take a stand, things stay the same. As long as the attitude is “it’s me first” and not the sport, nothing changes. Sometimes there’s a price to be paid for actions taken. That’s what has to be weighed when you decide what action you take. Phelps is pretty pragmatic when it comes to things like this. You won’t find him on too many picket lines, whether it’s this or POTUS attack on Baltimore. He’s not Colin Kaepernick. He won’t risk his livelihood.
It’s a slippery slope protesting on the podium. I think most people can get behind protesting PEDs, but what happens when they start using the podium for other causes? There’s a precedent to be set here and we could be setting up the medal ceremonies to be an activist platform instead of celebrating the results of the race.
Unfortunately the public athlete protests just give FINA more of an incentive to ignore the problem because the controversy is so lucrative. Lilly King’s finger wag was worth millions.
If anything, Mack Horton has basically guaranteed that Sun Yang will be in the pool with him in Tokyo. The hype for that race will attract viewers all over the world.
I hope I’m wrong about that.
The biggest incentive for FINA to do nothing is politics. If they punish Sun Yang, they will have to punish an American as quid pro quo.
A lot of folks could dope for years and still not have the hematocrit levels that Phelps had. Eero Mäntyranta, a Finnish skier, was charged with doping because of his high EPO levels. It was later found that this was because he had a congenital (genetic) case of polycythemia, a condition where the body produces an abnormal amount of hematocrit (the oxygen carrying component of blood). What constitutes an unfair advantage? Sleeping in an oxygen tent with controlled oxygen levels has the same effective of blood doping, it boosts the production of hematocrit through increasing EPO. Neither requires any physical effort from the athlete. That statement probably sounds outlandish to a layperson hearing a lot of these terms for the… Read more »
Drug testing is expensive.
Is it a matter of economics that underlies the problem with FINA?
I don’t know much about it but it seems like it comes down to more drug testing.
What else could FINA do.?
Just exactly what is FINA?
Babaschoff also let her swimming do the protesting in that epic upset victory for the U.S. in the 4 X 100 free relay. If Horton or Scott had beaten Yang and then did their protests, it would’ve been even more effective. Beat the cheater, make him/her be even more brazen the next time and get caught.