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≡ WADA vs. U.S. CONTINUES ≡
Edmund Willison‘s Honest Sport newsletter, which focuses on doping issues, obtained a copy of a six-page document that includes a four-page letter from World Anti-Doping Agency President Witold Banka (POL) and Director General Olivier Niggli (SUI) to the WADA Executive Committee, updating the situation relative to the continuing war of words with U.S. Anti-Doping Agency head Travis Tygart, and the U.S. government.
Dated 5 February, the letter explains that at the WADA Executive Committee meeting in Saudi Arabia in December:
● “We listened carefully to all the comments made by ExCo and Board members on this matter and the broader topic of the Chinese swimmer cases that had consumed the better part of 2024. We particularly noted that members expressed a desire, which we share, that we endeavor to resolve the situation with the U.S. and move forward for the good of the fight against doping in sport.”
● WADA engaged American attorney Richard Young, who has been deeply involved in anti-doping affairs for years – to mediate with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and chief executive Tygart, with whom WADA has had a running battle in interviews and Web posts. This failed.
● WADA then approached the Biden Administration over its refusal to pay its 2024 dues of $3.625 million by 31 December:
“We were willing to consider its one condition – withdrawal of the [defamation] lawsuit [against Tygart] – on the basis that the lawsuit’s purpose had largely been achieved through the court of public opinion. This is to say that the world (except for Mr. Tygart) has accepted the findings of the Cottier Report and has shown a desire to move on.
“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts – and our agreement in principle to withdraw the lawsuit – it became clear over the course of these weeks that the U.S. Government under the Biden administration in fact had a total of six demands that it was putting forward as non-negotiable conditions for payment that we simply could not agree to without breaching our rules, practicing poor governance and usurping the authority of the ExCo.”
● “Despite the range of challenges coming at us from different fronts in the U.S., we remain open and committed to working collaboratively and constructively with the newly elected Trump administration. In fact, on 27 January, we reached out to the Acting Director of the ONDCP to express this preference; to apprise him of the latest developments; and to ask, as a matter of urgency, whether he may be prepared to accept our attempts to reach a compromise …”
● “Regardless of how the relationship with the U.S. evolves, in the interest of shifting gears and focusing our efforts on strengthening the global anti-doping system that the community has worked hard to build together over 25 years, we have made the decision to withdraw the lawsuit against USADA and Mr. Tygart. While we remain convinced that the lawsuit would be successful on its merits, we have determined that it is futile to argue with somebody who is unwilling to accept clear evidence, whose only goal is to damage WADA and the global anti-doping system, and who has no desire to find a resolution.”
WADA is moving ahead with sanctions against the U.S. for not paying its 2024 dues by removing it from the Executive Committee and Foundation Board.
Observed: It is unlikely that Tygart and WADA’s other critics agree with this view, but it is a move which lowers – slightly – the current boiling atmosphere.
Like so many other issues in world sport today, the outcome of the International Olympic Committee’s election for president in March will have an impact on the continuing argument over WADA, the January 2021 Chinese swimming positives incident and critics who see the agency as ineffective and unwilling to enforce the World Anti-Doping Code equitably.
The IOC provides about 50% of WADA’s annual budget, with national governments paying the other half.
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