White House is drawn into dispute over Chinese swimmers’ doping case
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Wada informed the White House in August that its officials were seeking to bar the administration’s representative from any deliberations about positive tests by Chinese athletes at the agency’s leadership meeting this week in Turkey.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK – The fight between the United States and the world’s anti-doping regulator over the handling of positive tests by elite Chinese swimmers has escalated in recent weeks and drawn in a powerful new player – the Joe Biden White House.
The regulator, the World Anti-Doping Agency or otherwise known as Wada, informed the White House in August that its officials were seeking to bar the administration’s representative from any deliberations about positive tests by Chinese athletes at the agency’s leadership meeting on Sept 12 in Belek, Turkey.
The attempt to exclude the official, Rahul Gupta, who is the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is seen as part of a larger effort by Wada to push back on US criticism of the agency’s handling of the doping allegations and to try to shut down an FBI investigation into the matter.
Wada’s critics say the agency’s push to have him barred from the discussions is meant to undercut the United States’ ability to voice concerns over how the Chinese tests were handled before the past two Summer Olympics, and to hamstring calls for more transparency and accountability in the global anti-doping system.
The White House has responded forcefully, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with government and anti-doping officials. The heated back and forth is expected to come to a head at the meeting in Turkey.
“Any attempt to impose preliminary measures will be met with strong opposition and appropriate action(s) from the United States government,” a top White House lawyer wrote to Wada in a previously undisclosed nine-page letter sent late in August and reviewed by the Times.
Dr Gupta, the White House’s top drug official, is a member of Wada’s board, where he represents not only the US but also more than 40 countries in the Americas.
Only the International Olympic Committee contributes more than the US to Wada’s US$40 million (S$52 million) annual budget.
In response to questions from the Times, a spokesman for Wada, James Fitzgerald, said that it was inaccurate to say that the agency planned to bar Dr Gupta.
NYTIMES
