U.S. Investigation Into Global Antidoping Agency Continues Under Trump

New York Times

11-03-2025

The Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation into whether the global antidoping authority and China covered up the positive tests of Chinese Olympic swimmers who went on to win medals at the past two Summer Games has continued under the Trump administration, according to a draft document obtained by The New York Times.
The document, which the World Anti-Doping Agency plans to provide to its executive committee for a meeting this month, said that federal officials interviewed an employee of the agency who is an American citizen on Feb. 12 as part of the continuing investigation.
The investigation began under the Biden administration after The Times and a German broadcaster revealed that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the 2021 Olympics but that neither Chinese authorities nor WADA had disclosed the results or taken any action against the swimmers.
In the final days of his first administration, President Trump signed into law a measure giving the U.S. authorities the power to pursue doping allegations across borders. The focus of the investigation, involving possible Chinese corruption and wrongdoing by an international organization, is among matters that Mr. Trump and his administration have signaled they are deeply interested in.
The latest development about the investigation was revealed in a section titled 'U.S. Situation' in a 255-page draft report WADA plans to provide to its executive committee members. Its author was listed as Olivier Niggli, WADA's director general.
The document said that the interview of the WADA employee was conducted on a voluntary basis and done 'in the presence of our U.S. counsel.'
The document also indicated that the United States, which is the largest funder to WADA, still has not paid its dues to the organization. The funding cutoff was initiated under the Biden administration in response to WADA's handling of the doping allegations and apparently has continued under Mr. Trump. Relations between WADA and the United States remain strained, according to the document.
The Biden administration declined to pay the dues after WADA refused to submit to a range of measures, including an audit, after American officials raised questions about how the positive tests were handled. Mr. Trump has yet to appoint his top White House drug official, who would control the decision about whether to release the funds. WADA's handling of the questions about doping in the Chinese Olympic program has also drawn intense criticism from Republicans as well as Democrats in Congress.
'The previous U.S. administration has let down not only athletes worldwide but also U.S. athletes, as they are the ones who benefit the most from all the efforts and programs that are deployed outside the U.S. to support a level playing field,' Mr. Niggli told WADA's executive committee members in the document.
In response to the withholding of the funds, WADA has suspended all American officials from its board and other top committees.
The federal investigation has roiled WADA and the wider global sports world. Last year, the American head of swimming's global governing body was stopped for questioning about the positive tests in the United States before boarding a plane to head back to Europe.
That stop set off threats against the United States over its hosting of future Olympics. In exchange for receiving the bid to the 2032 Winter Olympics, the Olympic movement convinced officials from Utah and the head of the U.S. Olympic Committee, Gene Sykes, to push back on the Justice Department investigation in exchange for the Winter Games.
The fact that the investigation is continuing suggests that no resolution is imminent despite the change of administrations in Washington.
The document also took aim at a WADA nemesis, Travis T. Tygart, the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, a longtime critic of the global organization. The document pointed out that while Mr. Tygart has assailed WADA for its handling of international doping issues, he needed to be even more vocal about a proposed event closer to home: the Enhanced Games, a once-fringe project in the United States that condones performance-boosting drugs.
The project gained momentum after securing the early backing of high-profile investors, including Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley-based billionaire. And it has gotten considerable additional attention since Donald Trump Jr. announced an investment in the project last month through a fund he helps run. An announcement of the funding from the group features a video of the president on its website, in which the elder Mr. Trump says: 'The impossible is what we do.'
'Whatever the recent differences between WADA and USADA might have been,' the WADA draft document said, 'we trust and hope that USADA will, in the interest of clean sport, take a strong and principled position on the Enhanced Games and that it will not change tack now that the U.S. has been touted as the host.'