The “Big Arms” Race: Doping and the Cold War Defense of American Exceptionalism

On February 28, 2017, American swimmer Michael Phelps testified before a US House of Representatives subcommittee tasked with investigating the ongoing Russian doping scandal. “I don’t believe,” stated Phelps, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history, “that I’ve stood up at an international competition and the rest of the field has been clean.”¹ This claim should probably have raised a few eyebrows and perhaps even some follow-up questions. For example, “How did you manage to beat so many drug cheats en route to winning twenty-three gold medals?” Or, “How many more medals do you think you would have won against