WADA delays decision on barring US officials until after World Cup

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) put off a decision about barring government officials from major sporting events if their countries voluntarily withhold dues, pushing a potential conflict with President Donald Trump and other US officials until at least after this summer’s World Cup.

The WADA executive committee met and said it would consider the new rule in September, two months after the end of the World Cup, which the US is hosting along with Canada and Mexico. If such a rule is adopted later this year, it would presumably go into effect before the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

The US hasn’t paid its dues since 2023. If that continues, the new rule could place Trump and US lawmakers on a banned list for Games in their own country, though there are doubts about whether an anti-doping regulator could keep any of them from attending the Olympics. Conflict with WADA has not been a particularly partisan issue in the US, which withheld the payments in 2024 and 2025 — once during Trump’s presidency and once during Joe Biden’s. The US has withheld $7.3 million over the two years in protest of WADA’s handling of a case involving Chinese swimmers and other issues.

WADA spokesman James Fitzgerald previously told The Associated Press the proposed rule would “not (be) applied retroactively so World Cup, LA and SLC Games would not be covered.” However, the proposal, a copy of which was obtained by AP, did not include language to that effect and Fitzgerald did not respond to multiple emails seeking clarification about his use of the word “retroactively.” After the meeting on Tuesday, WADA director general Olivier Niggli said, “The withholding of contributions by governments for political or other voluntary reasons remains a serious topic of concern for all WADA’s stakeholders.”

“Funding instability has a direct effect on the functioning and development of the World Anti-Doping Program,” Niggli said. “Ultimately, those who are most directly and most negatively impacted are athletes around the world.”

WADA started exploring the issue in 2020, around the time the US began threatening to withhold money. But it says the issue of penalizing governments for not paying is not directly related to the United States.

A US representative on the executive committee during the Biden administration — drug czar Rahul Gupta — led the effort to reject the proposal in 2024.

The US has since lost its spot on the committee. The proposal emerged again earlier this year, and in correspondence with European decision-makers, a copy of which was obtained by AP, WADA told them such a measure could be adopted “without undue delay.”

The Europeans also asked WADA why the executive committee was taking up the issue again before a working group had finished its analysis.

A decision by the executive committee would have to be ratified by the WADA foundation board. Its next meeting is in November, though in the February letter to the Europeans, WADA said that board could meet sooner.