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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡
/Updated/The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said in a Wednesday statement:
“Today, it was announced that the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has withheld its 2024 dues payment of $3.6M from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). USADA fully supports this decision by the White House ONDCP as the only right choice to protect athletes’ rights, accountability, and fair competition.
“Unfortunately, the current WADA leaders left the U.S. with no other option after failing to deliver on several very reasonable requests, such as an independent audit of WADA’s operations, to achieve the transparency and accountability needed to ensure WADA is fit for purpose to protect athletes.
“Since the exposure of WADA’s failed handling of the 23 Chinese swimmers’ positive tests that gave China and its athletes special treatment under the rules, many stakeholders from around the world, including athletes, governments, and National Anti-Doping Agencies, have sought answers, transparency, and accountability from WADA leadership.”
This is the latest inflammation in a continuing feud between the U.S. and WADA that dates back to the first Trump Administration, and seems to have no end in sight.
WADA confirmed to Agence France Presse in a statement:
“The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirms that it did not receive the agreed contribution to WADA’s 2024 budget from the Government of the United States by the deadline of 31 December 2024.
“Under Article 6.6 of the WADA Statutes, Public Authority representatives from a country which has not paid its dues are ineligible to sit on the Foundation Board or the Executive Committee. Therefore, on 1 January of each year, any Foundation Board or Executive Committee member representing a country that has not paid its annual contribution for the previous year automatically loses their seat.”
The U.S. owes its agreed-on 2024 WADA dues of $3.625 million and did not pay by the end of 2024, primarily over the continuing tug-of-war over the January 2021 positives of 23 star Chinese swimmers, who received no provisional suspensions – as required by the World Anti-Doping Code – and were ruled by the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency to have ingested the prohibited heart medication Trimetazidine from contaminated food served to them at a hotel.
USADA chief executive Travis Tygart has been leading the charge against WADA, and has found allies in the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Congress, with a House sub-committee hearing held in June featuring swimming stars Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt.
But his statement noted that the issues with WADA go back further:
“The U.S. has been the highest government payor to WADA since WADA’s inception in 2000 and has been a staunch supporter of having an effective global anti-doping system to protect athletes competing at the highest levels. However, the authority to withhold payment to WADA was initially put in place under the first Trump Administration in conjunction with Congress when WADA’s ineffectiveness was exposed in the Russia state-sponsored doping scheme.
“As a result of WADA’s failure during this sad saga that ultimately saw Russia rob hundreds of athletes from the U.S. and other countries at the highest levels of competition, Congress passed the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, which President Trump signed into law in 2020. Also, the Trump Administration and Congress granted ONDCP the authority to withhold payment from WADA in the event that it did not act in a fair, effective, and transparent manner.”
Tygart noted in his statement that the non-payment of dues will not impact U.S. athletes:
“The current non-payment of the 2024 dues to WADA will have no impact on U.S. athletes’ right to compete in the United States or around the world. The WADA statutes are crystal clear that the non-payment of voluntary dues does not affect athletes in any way even if the 2024 U.S. payment is never paid.
“The non-payment will have no impact on the current anti-doping program in the U.S. and USADA will continue to robustly implement its WADA Code program so that all U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes’ rights are protected.”
However, that is only part of the story. WADA has sent the matter of prior USADA and Office of National Drug Control Policy issues to its Compliance Review Committee. If – and it’s a big if – WADA should hold the U.S. to be non-compliant, it would be subject to a series of sanctions which could include loss of flag and anthem at international competitions, and a ban on being able to hold regional or world championship events of International Federations which are bound to uphold the World Anti-Doping Code.
(Update: USADA chief Tygart explained in a later interview that this will not happen under current rules; click here for details.)
This is not a far-off scenario, but could have near-term consequences, as the U.S. will host five significant world championship events in the next year:
● 06-15 Mar. 2025: IBSF (bobsled and skeleton) World Championships in Lake Placid, New York
● 25-30 Mar. 2025: ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, Massachusetts
● 14 Jun.-13 Jul. 2025: FIFA Club World Cup, in 11 U.S. cities
● 26-28 Sep. 2025: World Athletics Road Running Championships in San Diego, California
● 10 Jan. 2026: World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Florida
It is worth noting that FIFA itself is organizing the 2025 Club World Cup and the 2026 World Cup, in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. Further down the road is the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, also potentially impacted – although years away – by this issue, and the 2034 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
WADA’s next Executive Board meeting is scheduled to be held online, on 27 March 2025, which would be during the Figure Skating Worlds in Boston. But emergency meetings could be held at any time and a recommendation from the Compliance Committee could come anytime.
Observed: This is a mess and only getting worse. It may not get any better until the IOC Presidential Elections are held – also in March – and a new leader is identified.
In the Olympic Movement today, everything inevitably seems to come back to the IOC, which, incidentally, provides half of WADA’s annual budget.
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