World Anti-Doping Agency Accused of Favoritism in Testing Athletes

WASHINGTON — Olympic athletes told a congressional subcommittee Tuesday that the international organization assigned to monitor illegal doping in sports competition and to disqualify offenders is not doing its job.

The result is that athletes are winning competitions based largely on drug use rather than skill in their sports, according to witnesses before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

The witnesses included Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt, two of the most decorated Olympic swimmers in American history.

They put blame for the ethics lapses on the World Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees drug tests in international sports for the International Olympic Committee.

In one example discussed at the hearing, the World Anti-Doping Agency admitted in April that nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned performance-enhancing drug trimetazidine before the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

They were allowed to compete anyway, winning a total of six medals. China placed second in the overall medal count for one of its best Olympic performances in history.

The regulatory agency accepted China’s explanation that the 23 athletes who tested positive for trimetazidine inadvertently ingested it through contaminated food at their hotel.

A New York Times story on the incident said China “offered no explanation … for how a prescription drug available only in pill form had contaminated an entire kitchen.”

Trimetazidine is a heart medication that increases blood flow efficiency and can improve endurance.

Eleven of the Chinese athletes suspected of illegal doping in Tokyo are scheduled to compete next month at the Olympics in Paris.

“Confidence in WADA and the global anti-doping system has crumbled, rightfully so,” said Schmitt, who won 10 Olympic medals.

The World Anti-Doping Agency also has been criticized for its closed-door testing of athletes and lack of transparency, leading to allegations of favoritism in reporting test results.

Phelps referred to the image of favoritism when he testified, “It can’t reasonably be a coincidence that WADA has yet again succumbed to the pressures of international sport to do the expedient at the expense of the athlete.”

He added, “If someone does test positive, I would like to see a lifetime ban.”

The Montreal-based agency is funded by 190 countries. Congress appropriated $3.7 million for the organization this year. 

The U.S. government has threatened to stop funding the World Anti-Doping Agency after allegations of ineffectiveness. It also called on the FBI and the International Olympic Committee to investigate.

Lawmakers on the subcommittee invited the World Anti-Doping Agency to send its president, Witold Banka, to the hearing Tuesday but he declined.

Banka issued a statement explaining his refusal that said, “WADA understands the tense relationship that exists between the governments of China and the U.S. and has no mandate to be part of that. It is not appropriate for anti-doping to be politicized in this way.”

Banka’s response angered members of the subcommittee, especially Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., the subcommittee’s chairman. 

“Their refusal to appear today calls into question his commitment to accountability,” Griffith said. “And perhaps if they’re not going to do their job, we shouldn’t be funding them.”

Travis Tygart, chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, told lawmakers American funding of the World Anti-Doping Agency should be conditioned on greater transparency.

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