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    Feud Flares Between U.S. and Global Antidoping Agency

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    American officials allowed athletes to compete after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs so they could work undercover. Their global counterparts call that a breach of the rules.Since the World Anti-Doping Agency first came under scrutiny this spring for its handling of positive tests for banned substances by nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers, the United States has been the agency’s chief critic.Congress has threatened to cut funding for the agency, which is known as WADA. The Justice Department and F.B.I. have opened criminal investigations into how the tests were handled. And the head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency and American swimmers have raised doubts about whether WADA can be trusted to do its job.On Wednesday, WADA launched its latest counterattack on the Americans, accusing the United States Anti-Doping Agency, known as USADA, of doing the same thing it has accused WADA of: failing to strictly follow the rules when an athlete tests positive for a banned drug.In a lengthy statement, WADA said that USADA had gone against the global antidoping code a decade ago by allowing athletes who had been doping to continue competing.WADA acknowledged a wrinkle in the case — that the athletes in question were allowed to keep competing so they could work undercover to help authorities with a criminal investigation — but said it did not matter because the U.S. agency was still bound to follow the rules and had failed to get WADA’s approval.“In one case, an elite level athlete, who competed at Olympic qualifier and international events in the United States, admitted to taking steroids and EPO yet was permitted to continue competing all the way up to retirement,” WADA said, referring to two categories of banned drugs. “Their case was never published, results never disqualified, prize money never returned and no suspension ever served. The athlete was allowed to line up against their unknowing competitors as if they had never cheated.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How a U.S. Antidoping Law Fueled Global Tensions

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      The Olympics are opening amid outright antagonism between international sports authorities and the United States over American investigations into the handling of doping allegations abroad.In the tumultuous final weeks of Donald J. Trump’s presidency, he signed into law, with little fanfare, bipartisan legislation that gave the United States vast new powers to police doping at competitions like the Olympics.The law authorized the Justice Department to criminally prosecute coaches, trainers, doctors and sports officials from around the world involved in facilitating doping, even if the event was held outside the United States.Nearly four years later, simmering anger among global athletic authorities about use of the law has exploded into public conflict. That has left the Olympic and antidoping movements unsettled as the Summer Games prepare to open on Friday in Paris and raised new questions about the reach of U.S. law enforcement powers abroad.The Justice Department is continuing to investigate whether Chinese antidoping authorities and the World Anti-Doping Agency — the organization, known as WADA, that is supposed to ensure a level playing field in sports — covered up the positive tests of nearly two dozen elite Chinese swimmers who went on to win medals at the last Summer Games.Some of those swimmers are competing again in Paris.The backlash from the investigation intensified on Wednesday when the International Olympic Committee announced that it had awarded the 2034 Winter Games to Salt Lake City. The award came with a stunning catch: The committee, deeply unnerved by the U.S. investigation, insisted on the right to rescind the decision if the United States continues to take actions “where the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency in the fight against doping is not fully respected.”The move set up a situation in which the bid may be contingent on the results of a Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation and led to new salvos between two camps. On one side are the I.O.C. and WADA, and on the other are Travis Tygart, the head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Congress and advocates for athletes.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Cheated’: Chinese Doping Case Roils Swimming

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      An American who won silver in Tokyo calls for an investigation. A British gold medalist demands bans. But the most bitter fight was between antidoping leaders.The revelation that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned drug seven months before the Tokyo Olympics but were secretly cleared and allowed to continue competing has exposed a bitter and at times deeply personal rift inside the fight to keep drugs out of international sports, and brought new criticism of the global authority that oversees drug-testing.A New York Times investigation uncovered previously unreported details of the 2021 episode, in which a contingent of Chinese swimmers, including nearly half of the team that China sent to the Tokyo Games, tested positive for a banned prescription heart medicine that can help athletes increase stamina and reduce recovery times.Within hours, the disclosure of an incident that had been a secret for more than three years was roiling swimming. An American Olympian who took home a silver medal from Tokyo said she felt her team had been “cheated” in a race won by China. A British gold medalist called for a lifetime ban for the swimmers involved on social media. And a simmering feud between global antidoping officials and their U.S. counterparts burst into the open with caustic statements and legal threats.“Any time there’s a situation where positive tests aren’t clearly identified and gone through a proper process and protocol, it allows for doubt to creep into athletes’ minds who are competing clean,” said Greg Meehan, the Stanford University coach who led the U.S. women’s team at the Tokyo Games. “When they’re going into competitions, you can’t help but think, ‘Am I competing in a clean event?’”The fallout comes less than 100 days before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. That has created uncomfortable headlines both for the sport but also for the Games themselves, which depend on global antidoping regulators to ensure fair play and the integrity of the medals awarded — which can validate years of training, define athletes’ careers and confer pride on a nation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More