
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is still waiting for several millions from its contributors. First in line is the United States, which owes $3,6 million for the year 2024. However, the nation with the star-spangled banner has no intention of regularizing the situation.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) issued a statement on Wednesday, January 8, to provide clear support for this decision. "Unfortunately, the current leadership of WADA has left the United States with no choice after failing to respond to several very reasonable requests, such as an independent audit of WADA's operations, in order to achieve the transparency and accountability needed to ensure WADA is able to protect athletes.", explains the body through the voice of its director, Travis Tygart (photo above).
The United States has been banging its fist on the table since it was revealed that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive ahead of the Tokyo Olympics but were not punished, with China citing a mass contamination. A "special treatment" that the USA absolutely does not want to let pass.
A compromise on the altar of the 2034 Olympics?
The AMA responded to these criticisms by itself asking a review by an independent prosecutor, Eric CottierThe former Swiss magistrate delivered his conclusions last July and completely dismissed the allegations. "Nothing in the file - which is complete - suggests that the AMA showed favouritism or complacency, he emphasizes. All the elements taken into consideration by the AMA, whether from the file produced by CHINADA with its decision or from the investigation procedures carried out by it, show that the decision not to file an appeal was reasonable, both from the point of view of the facts and the applicable rules."
Still insufficient, however, in the eyes of the United States. "WADA has failed to consistently apply the rules put in place to protect the integrity of competition and athletes' rights to fair play" according to Travis Tygart, who asks "meaningful reform of WADA to ensure this never happens again".
By cutting their funding, which accounts for about 14 percent of WADA's budget, the United States hopes to put enough pressure on itself to make itself heard. But the anti-doping agency responded by stripping Americans of their right to sit on its board, implementing the rule that "Representatives of a country that has not paid its contribution cannot sit".
Everyone is therefore sticking to their positions, and Donald Trump's return to the White House does not really bode well for an appeasement. The man with the red ties had frontally attacked WADA on the management of institutionalized doping in Russia during his first term. He had thus promulgated a law in 2020 granting the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) the power to withhold payments from WADA in the event that it did not act " in a fair, efficient and transparent manner”.
The prospect of Salt Lake City hosting the 2034 Winter Olympics, however, could bring the United States back into line. Utah Governor Spencer Cox has publicly agreed that the Games should be moved from Salt Lake City. "if the United States does not support or violates WADA rules". According New York Times, this fear is still in the minds of White House officials.