COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Recent developments have resulted in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) retracting both a lawsuit and an ethics case it had initiated against U.S. critics who challenged its approach to a doping issue concerning Chinese swimmers.
On Thursday, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that the defamation suit filed in a Swiss court against it and an ethics complaint targeting former U.S. drug czar Rahul Gupta have both been discontinued. USADA’s CEO, Travis Tygart, referred to the cessation of these legal actions as “a complete vindication for us both.”
The initial report of this news came from the website Honest Sport, which had access to a correspondence from WADA’s leadership directed toward its executive committee. The communication stated, “While we remain convinced that the lawsuit would be successful on its merits, we have determined that it is futile to argue with somebody who is unwilling to accept clear evidence, whose only goal is to damage WADA and the global anti-doping system.” This reflects a continuing tension between Tygart and WADA officials who have exchanged numerous accusations.
The disagreement centers largely on WADA’s oversight of a doping incident involving Chinese swimmers who were found to have tested positive without facing sanctions. This was due to China’s anti-doping agency determining the positive results were the result of contamination. WADA maintained that it undertook an independent inquiry which concluded the agency acted “reasonably.” However, critics have questioned the credibility of this investigation, arguing that it was biased as the lawyer conducting it was selected by WADA itself.
Moreover, WADA has opted to withdraw the ethics complaint it lodged against Gupta last summer, who was serving on WADA’s executive committee at that time. In response to the decision to drop the claims, Gupta remarked in an email to the New York Times that these moves “clearly demonstrate the meritless and politically motivated claims that WADA leaders attempted to pursue against the United States.”
This series of disputes prompted the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the White House, which Gupta oversaw during the Biden Administration, to withhold its annual dues payment of $3.6 million to WADA.
