WADA has been under fire for its handling of the scandal involving 23 Chinese swimmers.
The U.S. government has withheld its 2024 due funding for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the global doping watchdog confirmed on Jan. 9, after months of tensions over the agency’s handling of a 2021 doping scandal involving nearly two dozen Chinese athletes.
WADA’s budget revenue is split between contributions from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and governments worldwide, with the United States being the largest country donor. In 2023, Washington provided $3.4 million, which is double the $1.7 million from Canada, the home country of WADA and the second-largest contributor among more than 180 nations.
The United States was due to contribute more than $3.6 million in 2024, according to WADA, but this funding was not received by the Dec. 31 deadline.
“Therefore, on 1 January of each year, any Foundation Board or Executive Committee member representing a country that has not paid its annual contribution for the previous year automatically loses their seat,” a WADA spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
The spokesperson also said that WADA’s approved budget for 2025 stands at $57.5 million.
The U.S. representative on WADA’s executive committee is Rahul Gupta, director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, whose three-year term is not set to expire until 2026.
Gupta said in a media statement that the agency is evaluating all options, calling on WADA to take “concrete actions to restore trust in the world anti-doping system and provide athletes the full confidence they deserve.”
The Case of 23 Chinese Swimmers
In April 2024, the world’s doping regulator confirmed that it allowed 23 Chinese swimmers to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 even though they tested positive for a banned heart medication.
The Chinese anti-doping authorities determined that the positive results were caused by contaminated meat consumed by their athletes, a conclusion that the WADA agreed with.
The 30-member Chinese swim team ultimately returned from the Tokyo Games with six medals, including three gold.
That revelation of the case came as Chinese athletes, including some implicated in the doping scandal, were preparing to compete in the Summer Olympics in Paris last year, leading to renewed scrutiny of WADA in Washington.
U.S. lawmakers and athletes have voiced concerns about whether WADA could uphold its own standard to ensure fair competition, with some even questioning the organization’s integrity.
“It is not just this one incident that causes concern for many athletes, anti-doping agencies, and fans across the world, but it is the fact that WADA has long shown questionable ethical behavior,” Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote in a May 2024 letter to WADA.
In July 2024, a bipartisan group of senators and House members introduced a bill that could cut U.S. funding to WADA if it fails to implement sweeping reforms.
WADA officials responded by denouncing the move as a “politicization of anti-doping,” arguing that the agency “always endeavors to protect clean sports and treat athletes fairly, regardless of where in the world they are from,” calling the move a “politicization of anti-doping.”
On the same day the bill was unveiled, WADA issued a statement acknowledging that additional Chinese athletes had tested positive for the same banned substance, including previously undisclosed cases from 2022 and 2023. According to WADA, these cases were investigated by its national counterpart in China, with authorities attributing the positive findings to tainted food.
“WADA thoroughly reviewed the cases in early 2024 with all due skepticism, and concluded that there was no evidence to challenge contaminated meat as the source of the positive tests,” the organization said at the time.
The incident sparked fierce criticism from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which monitors anti-doping programs in the United States. When its chief, Travis Tygart, testified before Congress in June 2024, he pointed out that China had made substantial contributions to WADA—paying an extra $1.8 million since 2018—well above its required dues.
In response to the congressional hearing, WADA suggested that its U.S. counterpart’s push to slash or withhold funding for the agency was an attempt to redirect government resources for its own benefit.
As tensions escalated, international sports bodies also weighed in. When Salt Lake City was awarded the 2034 Winter Games in July 2024, the IOC included a clause in the contract stating that hosting rights could be revoked if the “supreme authority” of WADA was not fully respected.
Reactions
The USADA applauded the U.S. government’s decision to withhold the payment to the global drugs regulator for sports, calling it the “only right choice to protect athletes’ rights, accountability, and fair competition.”
“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,” Tygart said in a statement on Jan. 8.
The USADA said the current nonpayment of the 2024 dues to WADA wouldn’t impact the U.S. athletes’ rights to compete in the United States or elsewhere. WADA status says the nonpayment of voluntary dues “does not affect athletes in any way, even if the 2024 U.S. payment is never paid,” Tygart said.
Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, called withholding funding to WADA a “critical first step toward accountability and reform.”
“This funding freeze sends a clear message: the U.S. will not bankroll corruption,” Moolenaar said in a statement on Jan. 9.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) commended the decision on social media platform X, saying it should serve as a lesson for WADA, the IOC, and “any others who try to intimidate the United States.”
“We are calling your bluff, and we won’t be silenced,” she wrote on Jan. 8.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.