WASHINGTON: The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is facing a crisis after the US government refused to make a $3.6 million contribution to the global watchdog’s annual budget amid an ongoing row over a doping scandal involving Chinese swimmers.

WADA said on Wednesday the US had missed the December 31, 2024 deadline for payment and as a result US representatives would be barred from the global anti-doping watchdog’s foundation board or executive committee.

The chief executive of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Travis Tygart, said his organization “fully supports this decision” by the US government “as the only right choice to protect athletes’ rights, accountability and fair competition.”

“Unfortunately, the current WADA leaders left the US 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,” Tygart said.

The Americans’ move comes after a series of rows between WADA and USADA sparked when it was revealed last year the global body had cleared 23 Chinese swimmers to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, despite testing positive for the banned heart drug trimetazidine.

Tygart was furious WADA accepted the Chinese anti-doping agency’s argument that all of the swimmers could have been contaminated by a kitchen at the team hotel. The funding decision indicates however a more formal breakdown in relations between WADA and the nation that will host the men’s football World Cup in 2026 and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“Since the exposure of WADA’s failed handling of the 23 Chinese swimmers’ positive tests that gave China and its athletes special treatment under the rules, many stakeholders from around the world, including athletes, governments, and national anti-doping agencies, have sought answers, transparency, and accountability from WADA leadership,” Tygart said.

“Significant reform at WADA must occur to ensure this never happens again,” he added. In a statement, WADA confirmed the non-payment and said the move would prevent US representatives participating in its decision-making bodies in 2025.

WADA said the US government owes a total of $3.625 million out of the global body’s overall 2024 operating budget of $57.5 million. China, by comparison, paid $778,000. WADA President Witold Banka said last year Tygart had accused him of “really terrible things” over the Chinese swimmers’ affair and threatened legal action.

Trump’s influence

The United States has been the top government contributor to WADA’s budget since it was created in 2000. Tygart noted on Wednesday that the authority to withhold payment to WADA was established in 2019 when Donald Trump was last US president.

That came in the aftermath of the Russia state-sponsored doping scheme surrounding the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and led to the US government passing the Rodchenkov Act, named after the Russian whistleblower.

USADA also withheld funding for WADA in 2021 because it wanted to see more action on reforms, but the bodies patched up relations on that occasion. However, the return to power of Trump and his scepticism towards international bodies is unlikely to ease the standoff this time.

The International Olympic Committee, which funds around half of WADA’s budget, warned last year after awarding the 2034 Winter Games to Salt Lake City that the US had to respect WADA’s authority. Tygart accused Olympic chiefs on that occasion of “stooping to threats”.

A seasoned Olympics observer, former IOC marketing chief Michael Payne, told AFP the US decision to withhold payment to WADA was an example of the “increasing political weaponization of sport”. He noted that an independent report into WADA’s management of the Chinese swimmers’ affair had found there had not been a cover-up. “The US would seem to be deliberately trying to inflame the issue,” Payne said. — AFP