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≡ WADA REPLIES TO AP ≡
A Friday story by The Associated Press started with this:
“The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering rewriting its rules to try barring President Donald Trump and all U.S. government officials from attending the LA Olympics in 2028 in a move that could also have implications for the World Cup being hosted by the U.S. this summer.
“The proposal, on the agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting of the global drug-fighting watchdog’s executive committee, is the latest maneuver to come out of a yearslong refusal of the U.S. government to pay its annual dues to WADA. The refusal is part of the American government’s unanimous, bipartisan protest of the agency’s handling of a case involving Chinese swimmers and other issues.”
WADA, normally quite deliberate and calm in its communications, replied the same day with an unusually direct commentary on the story. Headlined, “WADA statement on misleading Associated Press article,” it begins with:
“The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) notes today’s Associated Press (AP) article alleging that WADA might ban United States government officials from the LA 2028 Summer Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup over unpaid dues.
“Despite WADA having provided AP with the facts, the article is entirely misleading. In fact, prior to the publication of the article, WADA specifically responded to the AP journalist – Eddie Pells – that, even if proposals that were being discussed amongst stakeholders were introduced, ‘given that the rules would not apply retroactively, the FIFA World Cup, LA and Salt Lake City Games would not be covered.’ Mr. Pells chose to omit this one statement from his article, presumably because it undermined his story.
“In fact, discussions related to the issue of governments unilaterally withholding funding from WADA have been ongoing since early 2020 and have nothing specifically to do with the U.S. A working group involving representatives of governments, the Sport Movement and WADA was set up in 2022, a period when the U.S. was still paying its annual contribution.”
WADA also noted, specific to the AP story’s focus on the WADA Executive Board meeting on Tuesday:
“To be clear, any decision on this matter would be for the WADA Foundation Board, which is comprised of worldwide governments, the Sport Movement and independent members. The next Foundation Board meeting is scheduled for November 2026.”
The AP story quoted WADA communications director James Fitzgerald (IRL) and added in the WADA-noted statement in an updated version of its story.
At the root of all of this is the continuing fight between the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy and the U.S. Congress over WADA’s actions – or lack thereof – over the mass-positives incident involving 23 Chinese swimming stars in January 2021. WADA accepted the China Anti-Doping Agency’s conclusion that the positive for the banned substance Trimetazidine were due to food contamination and did not insist on provisional suspensions as required under the rules of the World Anti-Doping Code, or appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
In response, the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy has not paid the U.S. dues to WADA of $3.625 million for 2024 or about $3.7 million for 2025. And the feud goes on, with WADA insisting it did nothing wrong and the U.S. side insisting WADA did not do nearly enough.
The dispute has no end in sight, and as WADA has noted, will not impact the 2026 FIFA World Cup or the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles or the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
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