Doping Feud Escalates as Congress Introduces Bill Threatening U.S. Funding of WADA

The start of the Paris Olympics hasn’t stopped America’s feud with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from escalating over the past week.

Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) inserted a clause into Salt Lake City’s host contract for the 2034 Winter Olympics that allows IOC the right to withdraw the Games if the “supreme authority” of WADA “is not fully respected.” WADA also said last week that it would take the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to its Independent Compliance Review Committee this month over a 2020 law intended to target international doping conspiracies, another move that could threaten American hosting plans for Los Angeles 2028 and Salt Lake City 2034.

“They’re running scared instead of being transparent and I guess we will see how independent the CRC is or is not,” USADA chief Travis Tygart said of WADA. “The whole system is crumbling under this WADA leadership and athletes deserve better.”

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On Tuesday, U.S. lawmakers responded by introducing the “Restoring Confidence in the World Anti-Doping Agency Act,” which would give the Office of National Drug Control Policy the ability to withhold the federal government’s annual contribution to WADA. The U.S. is supposed to pay WADA $3.62 million this year — the most by any single country — but the money has not been delivered yet.

Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen called the IOC’s last-minute modification of Salt Lake City’s host contract “blackmail and bullying.”

“I think WADA looks really bad here,” said Van Hollen, who’s leading a bipartisan effort to reform the organization. “I don’t think their position looks at all sustainable.”

Last month, World Aquatics confirmed that the U.S. had launched a federal investigation into the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance in 2021 and still competed at the Tokyo Olympics later that year. A Swiss prosecutor appointed by WADA to review the global anti-doping authority’s handling of the case found that WADA made an “indisputably reasonable” decision not to challenge the contamination conclusion reached by Chinese authorities.

American law enforcement is also examining the Chinese doping controversy under the Rodchenkov Act, which was passed in 2020 to extend U.S. jurisdiction to international sporting competitions featuring American athletes or financial connections.