Tension between the United States and the World Anti-Doping Agency have escalated with news that the US annual contribution to the agency was not paid by the deadline of December 31st.
The amount in question is $3.6 million, equivalent to a little over six per cent of the agency budget.
Rahul Gupta, the Director of the US Office of National Drug Control Policy, has now been removed from his seat on the WADA Board and US Officials have also been removed from positions on committees.
“Unfortunately, the current WADA leaders left the U.S. with no other option after failing to deliver on several very reasonable requests, such as an independent audit of WADA’s operations, to achieve the transparency and accountability needed to ensure WADA is fit for purpose to protect athletes,” said US Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart.
The dispute stems from WADA’s handling of the cases of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance seven months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Chinese officials said the test results had been the result of accidental contamination but the case only became public in April of this year after publication in the New York Times.
WADA’s defence was that because of pandemic restrictions they had been unable to fully investigate the incident or the defence put forward by China and that as a result they feared that any action taken in advance of the Tokyo Games would be disputed and likely overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Chinese swimmers won three gold medals, two silver and one bronze at the Tokyo Olympic Games, and a total of 19 golds, 19 silver and 18 bronze medals at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.
That number rose again to 22 gold, 21 silver and 11 bronze at the Paris Paralympics.
There was whispered questioning of some chinese swimmers at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris as a result of the pre-Tokyo tests coming into the public domain.
Gupta was a Joe Biden appointee to his domestic role and has been leading the response to opioid addiction.
He was appointed to the ExCo of WADA in May 2023, in his capacity as President of the Americas Sports Council.
Sport Ireland manages anti-doping across all sports in ireland and is a member of WADA. WADA’s Director of Intelligence and Investigations was a compelling guest speaker at an Anti-Doping Seminar in Dublin last April, two weeks before the news broke in New York about the tests.
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There is no statute of limitations on governance issues and this case and its handling has cast a shadow over one of the principal sports at the Olympics and Paralympic Games. US withdrawal of funding of international bodies is likely to escalate under the new administration, but this case is more than a flexing of international geopolitical muscle.
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This is obviously a developing story and we will be keeping on top of it for you as it moves along.
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