The U.S. government did not pay the more than $3.6 million due to the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2024, making good on a long-running threat anchored in unhappiness with the global watchdog's handling of cases involving Chinese swimmers and others.
Those funds, normally distributed by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, represent about 6% of WADA's annual budget.
WADA statutes say representatives of countries that don't pay are not eligible to sit on the agency's top decision-making panels. U.S. drug czar Rahul Gupta is listed as a member of the WADA executive committee.
Gupta told The Associated Press the ONDCP was “evaluating all our options," and did not rule out eventually sending the money to WADA.
“WADA must take concrete actions to restore trust in the world antidoping system and provide athletes the full confidence they deserve,” he said. "When U.S. taxpayer dollars are allocated, we must ensure full accountability and it is our responsibility to ensure those funds are used appropriately.”
In 2022, when Gupta held out, then eventually directed his office to send the balance of its yearly contribution, he did so with reservations, along with a letter saying the U.S. absence at the time from key policymaking positions was “a sorry state of affairs.”
Half of WADA’s budget is covered by the International Olympic Committee, with the other half covered by governments across the world, which receive 50% of the spots on key WADA governing committees.
The U.S. contribution is double that of Canada, the home country for WADA that puts in the second most money among the more than 180 countries that contribute.
The funding fight has been going on for at least the last six years, with the talking points not much different between the Trump and Biden administrations.
Dissatisfied over the handling of the Russian doping scandal, the first Trump White House started asking for reforms with the potential of tying them to its annual payment. More recently, WADA's handling of cases involving 23 Chinese swimmers has been a focal point of criticism.
A government study that came out in 2020 concluded Americans didn't get their money's worth from the contribution. Shortly after, Congress gave the ONDCP discretion to withhold future funding.
In between, tensions have grown between WADA and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which runs the drug-fighting program in the United States.
“Unfortunately, the current WADA leaders left the U.S. with no other option after failing to deliver on several very reasonable requests, such as an independent audit of WADA’s operations” in the wake of the Chinese doping saga, USADA CEO Travis Tygart said.
WADA, meanwhile, has chafed at the Rodchenkov Act, a law that allows the U.S. to prosecute people of any nationality involved in doping conspiracies. That bill was signed by Donald Trump at the end of his first term as president. The IOC suggested last year that investigations the law permitted could cost the U.S. a chance to host the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2034.
Just as some of that rhetoric died down comes the news that the U.S. is still deciding whether to pay its 2024 obligation.
And all of it comes against the backdrop of the United States preparing to play a large role in hosting international events. The World Cup arrives in the country next year, followed by the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“Now is the time to get WADA right to ensure these competitions on U.S. soil are clean, safe, and a pageantry of fair competition in which we can all have faith and confidence,” Tygart said.
He said WADA rules dictate that the money fight will not have any impact on U.S. athletes' ability to compete at home or abroad.
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
FILE - Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, is asked a question as he arrives for the State Dinner with President Joe Biden and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, June 22, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - Witold Banka, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), attends a press conference at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Mozambique's main opposition leader returned from self-imposed exile on Thursday clutching a bible and saying he still rejects the results of a disputed election last year that has sparked more than two months of protests and a violent crackdown by security forces.
While Venancio Mondlane stepped off a plane, security forces fired tear gas at hundreds of his supporters who gathered near the main international airport to welcome him home. Mondlane arrived at Mavalane International Airport in the capital, Maputo, to applause from some airport workers and then kneeled in the arrivals hall with a bible in his left hand.
“I want to fight within this country and I will, until the very end, keep fighting for this country,” Mondlane said. “I’m not willing to accept election results if they are the same as those announced up until now.”
He had left the country in October following an election clouded by allegations of rigging against the long-ruling Frelimo party, which has been in power since Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
More than 100 people have been killed by security forces, according to international rights groups, since Mozambique erupted in protests after Frelimo was declared the winner of the Oct. 9 election. Some local groups put the death toll at more than 200. Mondlane had called for people to protest the results.
Mondlane has said he left Mozambique fearing for his life after two senior members of his opposition party were killed in their car by unknown gunmen in a late-night shooting on a street in Maputo in the aftermath of the election. Mondlane's party called the killings political assassinations.
Police on Thursday also blocked roads leading to the airport after Mondlane said on social media earlier this week he would return to the southern African country. Tear gas drifted over the airport and surrounding roads and a helicopter hovered overhead. After arriving, Mondlane traveled by car to a public square in central Maputo, with large crowds following him.
Thousands of Mondlane's supporters were expected to gather in Maputo for his return, prompting the clampdown by security forces, which rights groups have accused of using excessive force against post-election protesters. Authorities have said the protests were violent and needed to be subdued, but rights groups say security forces have fired live bullets at peaceful protesters, and children were among those who were killed.
Mondlane accused authorities of kidnapping and killing some anti-government protesters. But he also said he was willing to enter into negotiations with Frelimo to end months of unrest, which has disrupted the country of 33 million. Mozambique has also been battling a violent insurgency by jihadists in the north.
“I’m here in flesh and blood to say that if you want to negotiate, if you want to talk to me, if you want to come to the conversation table, I’m here,” Mondlane said.
Mondlane and other opposition candidates accused Frelimo of rigging the election and international observers reported irregularities in the vote and the alteration of some results. Mozambique’s Constitutional Council upheld Frelimo’s victory last month, making its candidate, Daniel Chapo, the president-elect. He is due to be inaugurated next week to succeed President Filipe Nyusi, who has served the maximum two terms.
Mondlane was second in the official results.
The post-election unrest has spilled over to neighboring countries, with reports of thousands of Mozambicans fleeing to Malawi. South Africa closed its border with Mozambique for several days last year after vehicles were set on fire near the crossing.
The Southern African Development Community, a regional body, has said it will send a delegation to Mozambique in an attempt to find a solution to end the turmoil.
Frelimo has often been accused of rigging elections since Mozambique held its first democratic vote in 1994 following a bloody 15-year civil war Frelimo fought against rebel group Renamo, which is now an opposition party that Mondlane once belonged to before breaking away.
The street protests in several major cities since October have been the biggest threat to Frelimo's rule since the 1977-1992 civil war.
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
Mozambique's opposition leader Venancio Mondlane addresses supporters from the top of a vehicle on the street in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
Mozambique's opposition leader Venancio Mondlane speaks to journalist upon his arrival, at the Mavalane International Airport in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
Mozambique's opposition leader Venancio Mondlane arrives at the Mavalane International Airport in Maputo, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)
FILE - Independent candidate Venancio Mondlane holds up his finger after casting his vote in general elections in Maputo, Mozambique, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Equeio, File)
