Pressure is intensifying on the World Anti-Doping Agency with the UK and European Union being urged to stop funding the global body following the United States’ decision to withhold its financial backing over Wada’s handling of the 23 Chinese swimmers cleared to compete at the Olympics in 2021.
The shadow sports minister, Stuart Andrew, is calling on the government to follow the example of President Joe Biden’s administration and consider withholding funds if Wada cannot show full transparency over the China case.
Meanwhile, the former Wada vice-president, Linda Helleland, who chairs the Council of Europe’s cultural and sport committee and is Norway’s shadow sports minister, is calling on her country to withdraw its support for Wada.
Andrew said: “We have really high standards in the UK and part of that is ensuring that athletes can be sure that they’re going into competitions where they know it’s fair. If there are concerns around Wada we have to push them on clarification over this. Releasing the papers will give confidence to the system: if they can’t do that then I think we have to ask serious questions about funding Wada going forward.
“If Wada is confident everything is robust and fair then what have they got to hide? It would provide confidence to everybody. If they can’t do that we have to have a serious think about the future.”
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The US government has declined to pay its $3.6m (£2.9m) 2024 contribution to Wada and looks unlikely to pay in the future under the administration of President Donald Trump after it emerged last year that Wada had cleared 23 Chinese swimmers to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, even though they had tested positive for the banned heart drug trimetazidine (TMZ). Wada accepted the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency explanation that a kitchen at a team hotel could have contaminated all 23 samples.
An independent report into the China case, published last year, criticised Wada’s “disorganisation” and found that China’s anti-doping agency “had deviated significantly and fundamentally from … procedure” but cleared Wada of bias. However, the scientific basis for clearing the Chinese athletes has not been fully revealed and critics now want those documents published.
Helleland, who has tabled questions in the Norwegian parliament on future funding, said: “We have a global anti-doping organisation stripped of integrity and failing to fulfil its duties. Its role is to combat doping and ensure fair competition among athletes, yet it now appears more focused on protecting the interests of the dark forces undermining sports.
“As long as Wada fails to operate independently and transparently and shows no willingness for internal reform and change, Norwegian taxpayers should not contribute to the organisation. The government should follow the US lead and withhold our funding. Failing to support the Americans would mean siding with Wada and China.
“Wada refuses to facilitate an independent investigation into its own operations and instead has produced a paid-for report that shields China. This is a country that, coincidentally, provided Wada with additional funding during the same period.
“If Wada truly has nothing to hide, it has nothing to fear. An independent investigation would confirm that Wada has acted appropriately. Currently, it appears as though they have something to conceal, which an international sports organisation simply cannot afford.”
A Wada spokesperson said: “Annual contributions by governments to Wada are not conditional upon demands such as these. Beyond this, it wouldn’t make sense to choose to weaken the global anti-doping system for athletes in this way given that Wada was deemed to have properly handled the contamination cases involving the Chinese swimmers.
“An independent investigation of Wada’s handling of this matter … determined that Wada showed no bias towards China, that its decision not to appeal the cases to the court of arbitration for sport was ‘indisputably reasonable’, and that it followed the rules at all times. The prosecutor’s report also outlined areas of possible improvement to the anti-doping rules. Accordingly, during Wada’s December executive committee meeting, a range of recommendations was unanimously approved.”
