“The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) notes today’s\u00a0Associated Press\u00a0(AP)\u00a0article alleging that\u00a0WADA\u00a0might ban\u00a0United States\u00a0government officials from the\u00a0LA 2028 Summer Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup over unpaid dues.\u00a0\u00a0
Despite WADA having provided\u00a0AP\u00a0with the facts, the article is\u00a0entirely\u00a0misleading.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact,\u00a0prior to the publication of the article, WADA specifically responded to the\u00a0AP journalist\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Eddie Pells\u00a0\u2013\u00a0that, even\u00a0if proposals that were being discussed amongst stakeholders were introduced,\u00a0“given that the rules would not apply retroactively, the\u00a0FIFA World Cup,\u00a0LA and Salt Lake City Games would not be covered.”\u00a0\u00a0Mr. Pells chose to omit this one statement from his article, presumably because it\u00a0undermined\u00a0his\u00a0story.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
In fact, discussions\u00a0related to the issue of governments unilaterally withholding funding from WADA have been ongoing since early 2020\u00a0and\u00a0have nothing specifically to do with the\u00a0U.S. A working group involving representatives of governments, the Sport Movement and WADA\u00a0was\u00a0set up in 2022,\u00a0a\u00a0period when the U.S. was still paying its annual contribution.\u00a0
A specific proposal arose\u00a0out of the\u00a0working group\u00a0aimed at\u00a0better\u00a0protecting\u00a0WADA’s funding so that it can\u00a0deliver on\u00a0its\u00a0global collaborative movement for doping-free\u00a0sport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If WADA’s funding is cut, it is\u00a0ultimately athletes\u00a0around the world \u2013 including in the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0who will suffer. Indeed, athletes (including those on WADA’s\u00a0Executive Committee\u00a0and\u00a0Foundation Board) have continuously expressed their support for this initiative.\u202f\u00a0
To be clear, any decision on this matter would be for the\u00a0WADA\u00a0Foundation Board,\u00a0which is\u00a0comprised\u00a0of\u00a0worldwide governments, the\u00a0Sport\u00a0Movement\u00a0and independent members. The next Foundation Board meeting is scheduled for November 2026.\u00a0“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) notes today’s\u00a0Associated Press\u00a0(AP)\u00a0article alleging that\u00a0WADA\u00a0might ban\u00a0United States\u00a0government officials from the\u00a0LA 2028 Summer Olympic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[71,89],"class_list":["post-10556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","tag-olympics","tag-wada"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t