Wada takes next step in fight with US, could ban Trump from World Cup, LA Olympics
Locked in a years-long fight over funding with the United States, the World Anti-Doping Agency is not backing down
Leaders at the World Anti-Doping Agency are considering adopting a rule that could bar President Donald Trump and all US government officials from attending major international events – even if they take place on American soil.
A few coming up are as big as they get: this summer’s World Cup, the LA Olympics in 2028, the Winter Games in Utah in 2034.
This is not a fight of Trump’s choosing, but rather one being pursued by Wada itself, which has been the subject of bipartisan and virtually universal disapproval in Congress, in the Trump and Biden administrations, and in the offices of the US Anti-Doping Agency for most of this decade.
The proposal, on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting of the Wada executive committee, is the latest and most extreme manoeuvre in a years-long exchange of rhetoric, threats and fighting between all parties. It stems from the US government’s refusal to pay its annual Wada dues.
The US has held back a total of US$7.3 million over 2024 and 2025 in protest at the drug agency’s handling of a number of issues over the years, most recently a case involving Chinese swimmers who were allowed to compete despite testing positive for a banned substance. Wada took Chinese regulators’ word that the athletes had been accidentally contaminated.
Wada spokesman James Fitzgerald said the rule, if passed, would “not be applied retroactively so World Cup, LA and SLC Games would not be covered.” However, the proposal, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press, does not include language to that effect.