The case of the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine weeks before the 2020 (2021) Tokyo Olympic Games has come back to haunt the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The US government has decided to withhold its annual payment to WADA until an external review is conducted.
The Chinese authorities, who attributed the results to accidental contamination, and WADA’s acceptance of the explanation, caused a credibility issue with the US, who accuse WADA of a lack of transparency. The organization’s apparent vulnerability to political pressure is of concern and has triggered the review.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) director, Travis Tygart, has battled WADA for years, and he has led the protestations against WADA. In US President Donald Trump, Tygart has found the perfect foil.
Meanwhile, the FIFA World Cup is on the horizon, and the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games are going on at this time.
The Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Sara Carter, said in a comment made to The Athletic that “Governments or individuals who seek to manipulate or evade the rules must be held accountable,” and set the Trump administration’s political threshold with a clear message: “The United States will not be bullied or manipulated into paying dues to WADA until such is achieved.”
Within the appropriations bill signed by Trump this week is a provision that withholds the United States’ annual dues to WADA until the organization takes steps to address US accusations that WADA is beholden to Chinese influence.
The law, signed by Trump on Tuesday to end a partial government shutdown, states that any US plans to fund WADA must include the results of an audit “to be conducted by external anti-doping experts and experienced independent auditors” that shows the agency and its executives are “operating consistent with their duties.”
Head of WADA Witold Banka said that the organization is in a good financial place without the US’s funding of $3.6 million.
US government officials have warned that they may lead an exodus of countries away from WADA’s authority. This would be a drastic step that would upend nearly 27 years of a system that has governed almost all international sport. It presides over all international sporting events. However, WADA officials have said they don’t see that happening anytime soon, but they also say they don’t know how the conflict will be resolved.
The key concern for some time now is a push for greater WADA transparency and accountability. This began during the Biden government and continues to hold bipartisan support and has no opposition in Congress at this time. The White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) withheld its 2024 dues during Biden’s final year in office, and President Trump’s ONDCP withheld dues in 2025. The law Trump signed this week means the US is bound to maintain that policy.
“Governments or individuals who seek to manipulate or evade the rules must be held accountable,” ONDCP director Sara Carter said in a statement. “ONDCP will continue to demand that WADA submit to an independent compliance audit to advance sports integrity and fairness of competition. The United States will not be bullied or manipulated into paying dues to WADA until such is achieved.”
WADA officials said the organization won’t be forced into changing its rules of governance, even though the loss of that $3.6 million — and the same amount in matching funds — has “naturally led to a recalculation of some of our programs,” a WADA spokesperson said in a statement. “Additional contributions from other public authorities around the world have substantially mitigated the negative impact. WADA remains in a strong financial position.”
