Trump, China and doping: Could USA’s power play cost them Olympic hosting rights?

The detention of the World Aquatics chief executive by the FBI five weeks ago under the draconian powers of a controversial US act, and the subsequent response of the International Olympic Committee to protect its sports officials and WADA, threatens the future of the Olympic movement.

Australia’s John Coates, the IOC first vice president, has been a pivotal figure in this recent power play, one which threatens to disrupt the Los Angeles Olympics – particularly if Donald Trump is elected as US president – as well as potentially leading to the cancellation of the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

At issue is the US’s Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, which grants the US extraterritorial powers over sporting events involving American athletes. (It is named after the Russian whistleblower who fled to the US after the Sochi Winter Olympics and provided evidence of state-sponsored doping by the Russians, including swapping dirty samples for clean ones).

The Act effectively allows the US to detain anyone entering or leaving the US if there is any suggestion they have been involved with undermining anti-doping measures. It was recently used by the FBI to detain Brent Nowicki, the CEO of World Aquatics and a former executive with the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport, as he left a US airport.

Nowicki was held by the FBI for five hours and subpoenaed to appear before Congress two weeks later to testify in an investigation into how 23 Chinese swimmers avoided punishment after testing positive for banned drugs before the Tokyo Olympics – the US essentially pursuing a charge that that World Aquatics and WADA were conspiring to go soft on China regarding doping because China is such a powerful swimming nation.

Upon his release by the FBI, Nowicki returned to Switzerland where he immediately rang Coates, who is head of the IOC Legal Affairs Commission and CAS. Coates advised Nowicki, a lawyer, to contact the IOC in Lausanne – and the wheels of the powerful international sport movement began turning to protect itself, its sports and WADA.

IOC senior vice president John Coates is a pivotal figure in the power play.Credit: Getty Images

At an IOC meeting in Paris ahead of the Olympics, Coates sponsored a change to the host Olympic city agreement which would give the IOC the power to cancel the contract in the event “the supreme authority of WADA in the fight against doping is not fully respected, or if the application of the WADA code is hindered or undermined.”

Translation: if the US uses the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act under the pretence a visiting official to Los Angeles in 2028 is undermining US chances of gold medals by turning a blind eye to doping by the Chinese, you guys might lose the Salt Lake City Games in 2034.

It is not fanciful to pose a situation where Australia’s federal sports minister Anika Wells, a member of the foundation board of WADA, is barred from entering the US for the LA Olympics, or not granted a visa, should she be a Labor minister in 2028.

Coates was able to gain the support of the Salt Lake City delegates to the IOC session in Paris, telling the assembly, “We are pleased to inform you that both the state of Utah and the USOPC have agreed to this and have already signed the Host City Contract.”

Eyeballing the US representatives, Coates then said, “But more to this and in the knowledge that verbal assurances and commitments here today in their presentation are as binding as the written under the Olympic Host City Contract, I particularly noted President Fraser Bullock and USOPC President Gene Sykes, a candidate for election as an IOC Member today, could not have been more clear that they and the organisations they represent are committed to being a partner with the IOC in the discussions that must be had with the various US authorities to ensure that they fully respect the supreme authority of WADA and that the application of the WADA code is not hindered or undermined.”

However, a Republican senator, Marsha Blackburn, has fought back, launching a bipartisan move to counter the pressure on the US, according to reports on Saturday (Sunday, AEST).

The proposed bill, titled Restoring Confidence in the WADA Act, would allow the US’s Office of National Drug Control (ONDC) to cut annual contributions to WADA, which is part-funded by the IOC and national governments. The US is the single biggest donor of national governments. The proposed bill, if passed, would grant ONDC powers to address WADA “conflict of interest” issues and strengthen the fight against “state-sponsored doping.”

Given Trump’s anti-China rhetoric, the possibility of his election as US president as well as a Republican-controlled Senate must concern the IOC – particularly given the almost Orwellian powers of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act and the potential for geopolitical posturing between the US and China.

The US Anti-Doping Authority is led by Travis Tygart, a sponsor of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act and a vehement opponent of WADA and its perceived soft treatment of Chinese swimmers, particularly since 11 of the 23 Chinese swimmers cleared of doping offences from the Tokyo Olympics are competing in Paris.

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