Leaders of a powerful congressional committee are not backing down on their investigation into a Chinese doping scandal and say it is “not appropriate” for the International Olympic Committee to threaten removing Salt Lake City as 2034 host for the Games as leverage to thwart their probe.
“It speaks volumes that the IOC would demand a one-sided contract condition to protect WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency] rather than work together to ensure it is fulfilling its mission to protect clean sport,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and ranking Democrat Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, said in a bipartisan statement.
“The eyes of the world are about to turn toward the Paris Olympics, where athletes should be able to compete on a level playing field,” they said, “but unfortunately these reports cast further doubt on WADA.”
On Thursday, McMorris Rodgers, Pallone and other committee members sent a letter to WADA President Witold Bańka. In it, they expressed their “sincere disappointment” with WADA’s refusal to testify at a June hearing on the organization’s handling of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive in 2021 for the banned substance trimetazidine, or TMZ, during the Tokyo Olympics. They also sought answers to a series of questions about WADA’s response.
Salt Lake City’s ultimately successful bid for the 2034 Olympics was nearly across the finish line, with no obvious stumbling blocks in its way, when Utah committee leader Fraser Bullock received a call two weeks ago informing him of the IOC’s frustrations with the U.S. investigations. Bullock added language supporting WADA to Wednesday’s presentation before the IOC general membership. Still, several officials seized the opportunity to pressure the Salt Lake City bid committee to work to quash the congressional inquiry as well as an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.
A provision was also added to the Olympic contract signed Wednesday by Gov. Spencer Cox that allows the IOC to revoke the 2034 Games if organizers do not respect WADA’s authority and don’t work to repeal the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act. Passed in 2020, that law allows U.S. law enforcement to crack down on international doping schemes and prosecute foreign citizens running them if they affect U.S. athletes or sponsors.
10 years to ‘solve the concerns’
Under the threat of losing a bid more than 20 years in the making, Utah officials seemingly had little choice but to agree to the IOC’s demands.
“This represents the end of a long process,” Cox said after the IOC’s vote electing Utah as the host of the 2034 Winter Games. “... Our commitment is that now the journey begins again for us. We will work incredibly hard over the next 10 years to solve the concerns with WADA, but there is so much more than that. Our commitment to you is that we will work to unify not just the United States of America but the entire world around sports again.”
WADA officials have made it clear they believe doping investigations should be left to them.
“It’s highly incorrect,” Banka said at a news conference Thursday in Paris, “for one country to try to impose the jurisdiction of the doping decisions to the rest of the world.”
Conversely, U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., who led an Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing last month on the issue, said it is “not appropriate” for the IOC “to advocate for dirty Games by conditioning the U.S. bid in Salt Lake City on the U.S. withdrawing its objections to the way the World Anti-Doping Agency has handled matters in the past.”
“The rules need to be applied in a manner that is fair to all nations and assure athletes that the use of performance-enhancing drugs will not be tolerated,” Griffith said, “and that information about use of performance-enhancing drugs will not be swept under the carpet for political reasons.”
In May, another House committee asked the Department of Justice and FBI to investigate whether the positive Chinese tests were part of an international conspiracy under the law that the IOC now wants repealed. The Associated Press reported earlier this month that the head of World Aquatics — the governing body over international water sports — had received a subpoena from the DOJ about the investigation.
IOC members scold U.S.
After the Salt Lake City bid committee’s presentation Wednesday, several IOC members offered scathing criticism of the United States’ use of the Rodchenkov Act. Some said they are reconsidering sending people to the U.S. for fear they will be detained.
“Yesterday’s decision of the IOC,” Banka said, “was to make sure that stakeholders respected WADA’s position in the global landscape.”
In January 2021, 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for TMZ. The China Anti-Doping Agency, CHINADA, investigated and reported that they ingested the drug by eating food prepared in a hotel kitchen contaminated with the substance.
WADA deemed the explanation “plausible” and did not investigate further. It also did not publicly disclose the positive tests. Five of the swimmers won medals in the Tokyo Olympics, three of them gold.
A subsequent investigation into the anti-doping agency’s response, conducted by an official appointed by WADA, said the organization did not mishandle the case.
“We are particularly concerned with the excessive deference being extended toward CHINADA — a state-funded operation with leadership deeply intertwined with the Chinese Communist Party,” Energy and Commerce Committee members wrote in their letter. “While we are aware that WADA has opened an investigation, we are concerned that international scrutiny was necessary to force due diligence that should be routine.”
The congressional members have spelled out several demands. They want a detailed timeline of WADA’s response and to know who at WADA decided to accept CHINADA’s explanation for the positive tests. They also requested WADA’s communication and records about the controversy — including information about which swimmers tested positive and their performance since.
Furthermore, they want to know what is being done to build trust in WADA going forward.
The revelation of the positive tests, which came to light in April after investigations by The New York Times and German broadcaster ARD, has built a cloud of distrust around the Paris 2024 competitions — most of which won’t begin until Saturday.
“I hope everyone here is going to be competing clean this week. But what really matters also is were they training clean?” U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky said Wednesday. “So, really, hopefully, that’s been the case. Hopefully, there’s been even testing around the world.”
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who oversaw Salt Lake City’s 2002 Winter Olympics, had not been briefed on the situation Thursday and did not comment on the IOC’s actions.