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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡
During a briefing on the first U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Board meeting since the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, USOPC President Gene Sykes noted that there has been some small progress in civility between the World Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency:
“I would say the temperature has already come down somewhat. I think both parties have decided they’d be a little bit more respectful of each other, even when they disagree about some things, and we’ve seen a little less name calling, a few less allegations. And several things have happened to help that.
“On the one hand, the special investigator, Mr. [Eric] Cottier from Switzerland, who had investigated and reported out preliminarily on the WADA actions [in the 2021 Chinese swimming mass doping incident] has issued his final report.
“His final report is actually much more detailed, and describes a number of, if you will, unusual procedures that CHINADA [Chinese Anti-Doping Agency] did not follow, is fairly critical of CHINADA, and observes that WADA could make some improvements in its own processes.
“That opens up an opportunity for more discussion on how to improve the process to make the anti-doping system more effective. That is something that we have thought would be the opportunity for the two parties to begin to talk about things they agree on, so, you know, that’s promising.”
Sykes also noted that this is not solely a one-on-one clash:
“At the same time, USADA is not in this alone. There are other anti-doping agencies that have signed on with USADA to say, we’d like more transparency and more effort to understand the WADA process.”
The bottom line:
“So, I think this is healthy. The discussions between the parties are discussions which are, as I say, I think being more respectful, and that goes a long way toward arriving at conclusions where we’re focused on improvement, and I think that will yield a benefit that is good for the anti-doping system, good for WADA, and I am optimistic about that.”
The harsh rhetoric against WADA regarding the January 2021 doping incident in China where 23 star swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine, but received no sanctions – including a U.S. Congressional hearing with Olympic swimming champions Michael Phelps and Alison Schmitt – led to a tortured situation in which language was added to the termination clause in the Olympic Host Contract for the 2034 Olympic Winter Games.
Although the war of words on doping had nothing to do with the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games bid for 2034, the International Olympic Committee inserted a clause in which it could remove the event from Salt Lake City if WADA’s “supreme authority” over doping is not respected.
IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) and others have indicated that there is no desire to use this trigger, but wanted to make a stand on WADA’s behalf. The Salt Lake City-Utah bid team, and Sykes, representing the USOPC, did not object to the addition and promised to helped create a more cooperative attitude.
Left open are the fears of some IOC members and International Federations officials of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2019, giving the U.S. Department of Justice extra-territorial authority to root out doping actors worldwide. Federation officials would like to see this aspect of the Rodchenkov law removed, but – in a U.S. election season – no actions have been taken.
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