Biden Administration Cuts Funding to the World Anti-Doping Agency

The World Anti-Doping Agency is the body that is supposed to test and verify that athletes around the world are not cheating in major competitions like the Olympics. Most of the group’s funding comes from the United States. On his way out the door, President Biden is withholding the US contribution.

“WADA must take concrete actions to restore trust in the world antidoping system and provide athletes the full confidence they deserve,” the White House said in a statement released late on Tuesday. “When U.S. taxpayer dollars are allocated, we must ensure full accountability, and it is our responsibility to ensure those funds are used appropriately.”

The United States had been slated to contribute $3.6 million for 2024, a tiny amount of the federal budget but a significant part of WADA’s funding. The American contribution is matched by the International Olympic Committee and would ultimately make up 14 percent of the organization’s roughly $52 million budget for 2024. It has budgeted to receive $57.5 million this year.

WADA has responded by removing the US from its board.

The backstory here is that WADA lost the confidence of the US anti-doping agency after a very suspicious series of events involving Chinese swimmers. Last April the NY Times broke a story about 23 women swimmers (about half the team) who tested positive for a performance enchancing heart drug called TMZ. Those athletes went to compete in the 2020 Olympics (which were delayed one year because of COVID) and won a bunch of medals. China did its own investigation of the incident and came up with a story:

In their report, Chinese investigators described how many of the country’s best swimmers were staying at the same hotel for a domestic meet in the final days of 2020 and the first days of 2021. Two months after the swimmers tested positive for the banned substance — a prescription heart drug that can enhance performance — Chinese investigators reported finding trace amounts of the substance in the hotel’s kitchen.

Their report offered no evidence of how the drug got there, despite enlisting the help of China’s national police. But they concluded that the swimmers had unwittingly ingested it in small amounts.

Why would a prescription heart medicine be found in a kitchen? The Chinese never explained that. Equally strange is that the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA), which was supposed to oversee the testing done by national organizations went along with the Chinese story. WADA concluded there was no evidence that what China was claiming didn’t happen, which seems like a strange way to handle positive doping tests.

Even if you believe the story about heart medication in a kitchen, China was required to announce the positive results, but they didn’t do that either and WADA apparently let them get away with it. This was just 7 months before the Olympics and those swimmers would go on to win medals in 5 events.

The Times identified five events at the Tokyo Games in which Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for a banned substance won medals, including three golds.

Paige Madden, a member of the U.S. 4×200 freestyle relay team that finished second to China with a time that was faster than the previous world record, said in a text message to The New York Times she hoped that the handling of the doping case would be investigated and a reallocation of medals considered.

“We had to applaud China’s efforts that day,” she said of being beaten by a faster team. “Today however, I feel that Team USA was cheated. We didn’t get to celebrate our world record, and we didn’t get our team moment to be on the top of the podium to watch our flag and sing the national anthem.”

WADA’s response to all of these questions was to threaten to sue. And as the US sought to have the matter investigated, the IOC also jumped in to defend China from difficult questions. They even threatened to pull the 2034 Olympic Games from Utah unless the US backed down.

In a shocking move on Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee moved to crush U.S. inquiries into a Chinese sports doping scandal, by threatening to reject Salt Lake City’s bid to host the Winter Games in 2034.

In a series of fierce statements coordinated by IOC President Thomas Bach, top IOC committee members blasted U.S. officials for opening probes into handling of the China case by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)…

In an unprecedented move, the IOC demanded that officials in Utah — along with U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) — sign a contract affirming “respect” for the authority of WADA in exchange for Wednesday’s agreement to hold the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

I don’t know what China has on these guys but they sure seem eager to please. So the US has been demanding for weeks that WADA submit to an outside audit of its operations and drop a defamation lawsuit against the US anti-doping agency. Ultimately, WADA refused which is why our contribution was withheld.

This really could mean the US loses the 2034 games, but what’s the point of competing if your main competition is allowed to cheat?