U.S. funding dispute with World Anti-Doping Agency boils over
Baku, January 9, AZERTAC
The fallout from the disclosure that the World Anti-Doping Agency did not discipline a slew of Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned drug erupted on Wednesday after the Biden administration said it withheld major funding for the agency and the agency removed the American government’s representative from its board, according to The New York Times.
The United States had held back its funding to the agency, known as WADA, after losing faith in its ability to guard against the use of banned performance-enhancing drugs at events like the Olympics, the White House said.
The decision by the Biden administration was a significant blow to WADA, which has been under intense scrutiny for decisions not to punish or more aggressively investigate positive tests for banned substances by elite Chinese swimmers in recent years.
On Wednesday, the antidoping agency responded by removing the United States, which had been the single largest country funder to the agency, from a position on its board.
WADA said in a statement that in line with its rules, “representatives from a country which has not paid its dues are ineligible to sit on the foundation board or the executive committee.”
Loss of the board seat is automatic, the agency added.
The White House chose to withhold the funding it had committed to providing WADA in 2024 in consultation with Congress.
“WADA must take concrete actions to restore trust in the world antidoping system and provide athletes the full confidence they deserve,” the White House said in a statement released late on Tuesday. “When U.S. taxpayer dollars are allocated, we must ensure full accountability, and it is our responsibility to ensure those funds are used appropriately.”
The United States had been slated to contribute $3.6 million for 2024, a tiny amount of the federal budget but a significant part of WADA’s funding. The American contribution is matched by the International Olympic Committee and would ultimately make up 14 percent of the organization’s roughly $52 million budget for 2024. It has budgeted to receive $57.5 million this year.
The question of whether the U.S. will provide funding for this year will fall to the second Trump administration, which took an adversarial approach to WADA during President Donald J. Trump’s first term.
The United States is set to host two Olympics in the next decade. White House officials fear that the 2034 Winter Olympics, which were awarded to Salt Lake City in July, could be taken away as a punishment of the United States over both its refusal to pay and ongoing efforts by the Justice Department and Congress to investigate how the positive tests were handled.
U.S. policy toward WADA has been led by Dr. Rahul Gupta, the Biden administration’s drug czar, who oversees the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Dr. Gupta, who sits on WADA’s executive committee, has been warning the agency’s top officials for weeks that he would withhold the U.S. funding if WADA refused to go along with a range of measures that he contended would restore confidence in the agency’s ability to police sports.
Dr. Gupta’s chief demand was that WADA submit to an outside audit of its operations. He also said that WADA needed to drop a defamation lawsuit it filed against American antidoping authorities, who have accused WADA of covering up the positive tests. And he wanted proof that an ethics complaint filed against him — that appeared designed to have him kicked off WADA’s executive committee — was dropped.
But despite a lengthy back and forth between the White House and WADA — including face-to-face meetings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, last month — the agency failed to go along with Dr. Gupta’s demands. It also signaled that if the United States failed to pay there would be consequences and WADA would find alternative funding.
In Riyadh, an Olympic official told a White House official that failure to pay U.S. dues could affect the country’s ability to host or participate in the Olympic Games, according to two people familiar with the exchange who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The White House, in response, researched what fallout the country could face from not paying and concluded that it could mean losing out on hosting the 2034 Winter Olympics. But the White House decided the questions about WADA’s credibility were so great that it needed to move forward with withholding the money, according to two people briefed on the matter.
American antidoping authorities — who are charged with policing American athletes to ensure they are not doping — praised the White House’s decision to withhold the funding but said it would have no impact on American athletes, since they will still be held to WADA’s antidoping code.
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