USADA says it ‘fully supports’ US government’s decision to withhold $3.6M payment from World Anti-Doping Agency

CNN —

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) says it “fully supports” the US government’s decision to withhold a $3.625 million payment to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that was due on December 31, 2024.

USADA’s decision comes after a months-long dispute between the two anti-doping organizations that stems from WADA’s handling of a case involving Chinese swimmers.

Kamila Valieva of ROC performs during the figure skating team event women's single skating short program match at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 6, 2022.

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It was revealed in April last year that WADA had cleared 23 Chinese swimmers to compete at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, despite all of them testing positive for the banned heart drug trimetazidine (TMZ).

WADA accepted the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency’s (CHINADA) explanation that the swimmers’ positive tests were the result of contamination, likely from a hotel restaurant, leading to accusations from USADA that the organization had swept the cases “under the carpet.”

In response, WADA defended its role in the Chinese swimmers case, slamming USADA’s “outrageous, completely false and defamatory remarks.”

WADA also said at the time that it was “not in a position to disprove” the contamination explanation offered by CHINADA.

“USADA fully supports this decision by the White House as the only right choice to protect athletes’ rights, accountability, and fair competition,” USADA CEO Travis Tygart said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, the current WADA leaders left the US with no other option after failing to deliver on several very reasonable