WADA to weigh barring Trump, US officials from LA Olympics

The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering rewriting its rules to try barring President Donald Trump and all US government officials from attending the LA Olympics in 2028, in a move that could also have implications for the World Cup being hosted by the US this summer. The proposal, on the agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting of the global drug-fighting watchdog’s executive committee, is the latest maneuver to come out of a yearslong refusal of the US government to pay its annual dues to WADA. The refusal is part of the American government’s unanimous, bipartisan protest of the agency’s handling of a case involving Chinese swimmers and other issues. The Associated Press learned of the agenda item through correspondence it obtained between WADA and European officials involved in the agency’s decision-making. Two others with knowledge of the agenda confirmed the existence of the rules proposal to AP; they were not authorised to speak publicly about the agenda, which has not been released publicly.

WADA spokesman James Fitzgerald said “there is nothing new here,” noting that discussions related to the issue of what to do about governments withholding funding have been ongoing since 2020 and aren’t directly related to the US.

The proposal was, in fact, first brought up in 2024, when US authorities successfully lobbied for its rejection. The US has since lost its seat on the executive committee. “In spite of WADA’s increasing threats, we continue to stand firm in our demand for accountability and transparency from WADA to ensure fair competition in sport,” said Sara Carter, the director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

The rule, if passed, would figure to be mostly symbolic, given the limits an international sports federation could have on the president of a country attending an event inside his own borders.

“I have never heard of a $50-million-budget Swiss foundation being able to enforce a rule to, for example, prevent the United States president from going anywhere,” said Carter’s predecessor at ONDCP, Rahul Gupta, who was on the WADA executive committee two years ago and led the movement to reject the proposal. “And the next question you have to ask is: How are you going to enforce it? Are they going to post a red notice from Interpol? It’s ludicrous. It’s clear they have not thought this through.”

In a news release after this story published, WADA said the AP story was “entirely misleading,” focusing on Fitzgerald’s statement to the AP that if proposals being discussed were “introduced, given that the rules would not apply retroactively, the FIFA World Cup, LA and Salt Lake City Games (in 2034) would not be covered.”

Fitzgerald’s only answer to three emails from AP seeking clarification on his initial response — specifically about how a rule that had not yet been adopted could or couldn’t be applied retroactively on events that are scheduled for the future — was: “I’m trying to say that it would not apply retroactively so those events would not be covered.

Given that and the next meeting of the Board being scheduled for November, I don’t see how it could come into play for this year’s World Cup.”

WADA suggests it could move quickly, but the impact on the upcoming World Cup is hazy. The next meeting of the Foundation Board, which would make the ultimate decision, isn’t scheduled until November. But a WADA response last month to a question about potential timing of the rule’s passage from the European authorities said: “The proposal could be implemented without undue delay. If necessary, the Foundation Board could consider the proposal by circular or within the context of an extraordinary meeting.”

According to a draft of the proposal, the rule would apply to governments that have not paid dues by Jan. 31 of the year after they’re billed. The U.S. hasn’t paid its WADA dues since 2023. There was no mention of “retroactivity” or lack thereof in the document the executives are considering.

The proposal calls for a three-tiered set of sanctions for countries that don’t pay dues. In the US case, that amounts to around $3.7 million from last year, plus $3.6 million it didn’t pay in 2024. Among the most extreme sanctions include “government representatives being excluded from participation in major events such as World Championships and Olympic & Paralympic Games.”

That would include Trump, Vice President JD Vance and members of Congress, who recently approved hundreds of millions in funding for security and other logistics for the World Cup and LA Games.

Representatives from the International Olympic Committee, FIFA and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee did not respond to emails from AP seeking comment on how a ban on Trump and other US officials might be enforced.

The US has been asking WADA to undergo independent audits. WADA’s budget was pegged at $57.5 million for 2025. It receives half its funding from the IOC and the other half from governments across the globe. Contributions from the governments are loosely based on the size of their athletic teams, and the US has always paid one of the biggest bills.

This squabble has been festering since the first Trump administration, rooted in America’s distrust of the global anti-doping system, which came under international scrutiny first for its handling of a Russian doping scandal dating to before the Sochi Games in Russia in 2014.

Then, in 2024, news came of 23 Chinese swimmers — some of them on the team that went to the Paris Olympics — who were allowed to compete despite testing positive. WADA accepted the Chinese doping regulator’s theory that the athletes had been contaminated by traces of banned heart medication in a hotel kitchen.

The ONDCP and Congress, under both the Trump and Biden administrations, have withheld the payments to WADA.