Lawmakers say the World Anti-Doping Agency, tasked with preventing the use of performance-enhancing substances in international competitions like the Olympics, is bullying the United States to stop an inquiry into Chinese doping practices — and they’re threatening to pull U.S. funding to the agency unless the “blackmail” stops.
They’re upset about the International Olympic Committee’s decision to name the U.S. as the host country for the 2034 Winter Olympic games under the condition that U.S. lawmakers and the Department of Justice drop an inquiry into the agency’s handling of several incidents of doping on the Chinese Olympic teams.
The host contract includes language that allows the IOC to terminate the contract if “the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency in the fight against doping is not fully respected.”
“We are not going to back down in the face of blackmail,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said. “WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) looks really bad here. I think their position is unsustainable.”
Van Hollen and three other bipartisan lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced legislation on Tuesday that would allow the U.S. to withhold funding to the international anti-doping agency if it does not ensure fair representation on its governing bodies. Specifically, the Office of National Drug Control Policy would have the ability to withhold contributions to WADA unless they are confident that “our athletes are on a fair and even playing field.”
The U.S. is the largest single financial contributor to WADA.
Congress appropriated $3.7 million to the international anti-doping organization in fiscal 2024 and the White House has requested $3.84 million for fiscal 2025. The U.S. is one of 190 countries to support the international agency, which is tasked with monitoring and complying with international anti-doping standards.
The proposed bill would not stop future appropriations to the world anti-doping group, but would give the government the ability to withhold the authorized contributions, if necessary. Van Hollen said that the issue would likely come up at the Senate appropriations hearing on Thursday.
“If you do not defend the Olympic spirit of fairness, the United States will,” Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., House bill co-sponsor, said.
At the heart of the issue is a recent scandal in which nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned medication trimetazidine before the delayed 2020 Olympics, but were allowed to compete without punishment.
The international doping agency confirmed that the doping occurred, but accepted the Chinese team’s explanation that their swimmers were accidentally exposed to the chemicals by a hotel chef in charge of preparing the teams meals.
Many of the swimmers involved in the original dispute are currently competing in Paris.
On Tuesday morning new reporting showed that two Chinese athletes, one who is currently competing in Paris, took illicit performance-enhancing steroids in 2022. China has once again blamed food contamination.
“Instead of working with us to ensure an even playing field, WADA has worked against us at every turn,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., the Senate bill sponsor, said.
Dozens of U.S. athletes, Olympic officials and lawmakers say the international body is turning a blind eye to Chinese doping practices, and lawmakers say that WADA’s threats to the U.S. about 2034 will not hold.
“I feel like that threat was somehow written in Beijing. Like it was something the (Chinese Communist Party) would say,” bill cosponsor Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., said.
Last month, the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing with top Olympic athletes, such as Michael Phelps, probing the fairness of the anti-doping agency.
Members of WADA refused to appear at that hearing. After that, top members of the committee asked the international organization for information on its decision to drop the inquiry into the Chinese team.
Through a spokesperson, Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Chair Morgan Griffith, R-Va., Tuesday reiterated his desire to hold a public hearing with WADA officials.
“Why would the United States want to host Olympic Games that are dirty games?” he said. “We cannot sit idly by while competitions are tainted by opaque enforcement decisions against athletes from any country that test positive for performance-enhancing drugs.”
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