Congress takes another look at US funding for World Anti-Doping Agency after China swimmer scandal

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency made its case to Congress this week for the U.S. to continue to withhold funds to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), citing concerns about transparency after nearly two dozen top Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug before the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games but still were allowed to escape public scrutiny and compete. 

Several of the athletes who reportedly tested positive – including nearly half of the swimming team that China sent to the Tokyo Games – went on to win medals, including three golds.

WADA accepted the explanation from Chinese authorities that the swimmers had been contaminated by traces of the drug Trimetazidine (TMZ) in a hotel kitchen, according to a report on the matter released last year.

“It’s unbelievable to think that Tinkerbell just showed up and sprinkled it all over the kitchen,” Travis Tygar, USADA's chief executive officer, said at a Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology and Data Privacy hearing Tuesday. He added that “A total of 96 medals were potentially impacted by these Chinese swimmers in the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Games with 18 being from the United States – including 14 potential gold medals.” 

The United States, in response to the April 2024 report on the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for TMZ before the Tokyo games, declined last year to pay about $3.6 million to WADA – about 6% of its annual budget.

“First and foremost, American tax dollars shouldn’t fund secrecy and double standards,” Tygart said. “We must continue to demand real transparency and tie every penny of funding to truth and accountability, not polished PR and anti-American attacks.”

Deciding who Congress should trust

The subcommittee is considering a bill that would give the leader of the Office of National Drug Control Policy – the so-called drug czar – permanent authority to withhold those funds, without needing year-to-year permission from Congress, the Associated Press reported. The issue comes as the U.S. prepares to hold the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

WADA declined the Senate panel's invitation to testify at this week's hearing, but spokesman James Fitzgerald told the Associated Press it was “another political effort led by Travis Tygart ... to leverage the Senate and the media in a desperate effort to relitigate the Chinese swimming cases and misinform athletes and other stakeholders.”

“WADA is not able to be trusted on this,” subcommittee Chairwoman Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told Just the News on Wednesday. “They would not turn over any information, nor did they show up at the hearing, nor have they properly responded to any of our requests. So clearly they are hiding something.”

Fitzgerald has said that WADA had, in fact, already addressed some of the concerns in the 2024 report. WADA’s funding comes in part from the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Movement, while the rest comes from individual countries, according to WADA.

U.S. drug czar Rahul Gupta is listed as a member of the WADA executive committee, and told the AP that “WADA must take concrete actions to restore trust in the world antidoping system and provide athletes the full confidence they deserve [...] When U.S. taxpayer dollars are allocated, we must ensure full accountability, and it is our responsibility to ensure those funds are used appropriately.”