A bill exacerbates the dispute between the USA and the World Anti-Doping Agency. There should only be money after one “independent review” give to WADA. The situation could become a test for world sport.
Shortly before the start of the Olympic Games The dispute between the United States and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) escalates in Milan and Cortina. The USA wants to stop its WADA financing by law, so the resumption of payments is linked to a separate investigation. The bill passed the Senate. The law is expected to be ratified shortly by the signature of US President Donald Trump after final approval by the House of Representatives.
The dispute between the top doping organization and the USA, which will host the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 and 2034 Olympic Games, could have significant implications for the world of sport. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has already threatened to withdraw the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
The then IOC President Thomas Bach awarding the Olympic Games to Salt Lake City
The bill contains language that ensures that the US’s annual contributions to WADA of almost four million dollars (approximately 3.35 million euros) are linked to the results of a “independent” are linked to an audit that is intended to ensure that the organization “works in accordance with their tasks”.
WADA categorically rejects such an examination. “If every government were to attach conditions to its contributions to WADA, it would lead to chaos”explained a spokesman for the ARD doping editorial team.
Examination by “external anti-doping experts”
The WADA passage is just a small part of a wide-ranging financial services and general administration bill that will receive a final vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday and whose passage is intended to end the ongoing shutdown in the United States. After that, only formal approval from President Trump is required.
According to the wording of the bill, the WADA review must “Be carried out by external anti-doping experts and experienced independent examiners”. In addition, a detailed breakdown of the possible uses of the US funds must be made. The members of such a review group should not be selected by the USA, but rather in a process led by the 42-member WADA Board of Trustees.
This is the latest escalation in a long-running feud between successive US administrations and the global doping control body. Under Joe Biden’s presidency, the United States initially refused to pay its annual contribution of $3.6 million (a good three million euros) due for 2024.
The annual amount demanded by WADA from the USA has now increased, to 3.96 million dollars (3.34 million euros) for 2026.. The USA is the largest donor among the member countries, which contributes a total of 50 percent of WADA’s total budget. The other half of WADA’s budget is borne by the Olympic professional associations and the IOC.
Risk for future Olympic Games
Since the start of Trump’s second term in office a year ago, the US has already withdrawn from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris Climate Agreement. Sports officials are trying not to unduly anger the US president. In addition to the World Cup this summer, the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City are also scheduled to take place.
However, when awarding the Winter Games in Paris last year, the IOC included a special clause that would allow it to remove Salt Lake City as a venue if the United States overruled WADA’s authority “undermine” or not “fully respect”. The new IOC President Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe) has not yet taken a clear position in the dispute.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry at a press conference in Milan
In response to an ARD query, the IOC avoided new threats against the USA following the new developments. The question of one “harmonized global fight against doping” must be clarified between WADA and the US anti-doping agency USADA, said an IOC spokesman. We welcome the fact that the US Olympic Committee USOPC wants to mediate in the matter. The IOC is confident “that the issue will be resolved between WADA and USADA in due course”.
Feud after Chinese swimming scandal
The dispute between the two sides erupted in April 2024 after ARD revealed that WADA had not followed up on suspected doping cases involving 23 Chinese swimmers since 2021. This raised questions about the handling of the cases and WADA’s overall priorities – questions that a nominally independent but very limited investigation by Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier in 2024 hardly answered.
Concerns are not only being raised in the United States. National anti-doping agencies from 18 countries, including Germany, have jointly called for reforms from WADA as a result of the China case. There has also already been discussion in the Bundestag about stopping the annual German payment of 1.4 million euros.
WADA has always viewed the allegations in connection with the Chinese doping suspicion cases as “politically motivated attacks” designated. She even filed a defamation lawsuit against the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in a Swiss court, which she withdrew. USADA, with its boss Travis Tygart, is one of WADA’s harshest critics.
A WADA spokesman now emphasized to the ARD doping editorial team that the organization is doing so anyway “is regularly independently audited – in financial and other respects”. He pointed to a number of other control measures, including the recent appointment of one “internal auditor focused on governance, risk management and internal controls, including assessing compliance with internal policies”. However, the measures called for by the US bill go much further.
“Operation Puncture” continues
WADA has been forced to suspend some services since the withholding of US payments and subsequent budget cuts. At the same time, however, its investigation department continues to devote resources to find out how the information about the 2024 Chinese doping suspicions came to the public.
At the time, WADA publicly stated that it would search for the whistleblowers who contributed to the media reporting. You will “take all necessary steps to punish those responsible”. The ARD doping editorial team later revealed that WADA was conducting the investigation with the name “Operation Puncture” (“Operation Piercing”) had officially begun.
After massive criticism – from outside by human rights organizations and from inside, especially by athlete representatives – WADA now claims that it “no investigations against potential informants” give. WADA’s response to ARD’s query: They are trying to find out “How the indiscretion came about and what was the reason for it”. More details, including those with the “Operation Puncture” WADA wanted to name the associated costs.
