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Introduction
The 2026 Winter Olympics are underway, with athletes from around the world gathering in Italy to compete on ice and snow. However, the biggest drama may be far away from the slopes, as the United States and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) clash. President Trump recently signed a law that permanently stops US payments to WADA based on allegations that the agency has withheld evidence of doping by Chinese athletes and is beholden to the Chinese Government. In response, WADA threatened to move the 2034 Winter Games, currently scheduled to take place in Utah, if certain concessions are not made. Whether and how this disagreement resolves remains to be seen. What is clear is that while US athletes compete for gold in the Winter Olympics, the United States and WADA are engaged in their own battle for dominance.
Background of WADA
The World Anti-Doping Agency was created in 1999 by various countries and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an international agency designed to regulate and enforce anti-doping rules in sports.1 WADA's focus is on "ensuring and monitoring effective implementation of the World Anti-Doping Code," which standardizes anti-doping policies, rules, and regulations across the globe for international events.2 WADA relies on funding from governments and the IOC.3 The United States is expected to pay around $3.6 million per year in membership dues, which is 6% of WADA's budget and the largest contribution by any single country.
One of WADA's main roles is to oversee substance abuse testing. WADA often delegates the responsibility to administer substance abuse tests to other organizations, such as international sports federations and national agencies.4 Those bodies are responsible for testing and determining an athlete's eligibility to compete in events.5 If the athlete or WADA is dissatisfied with the testing body's initial eligibility decision, they may appeal it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).6 In some anti-doping matters, CAS's Anti-Doping Division is the first authority to determine eligibility.7
In recent years, WADA has also investigated and punished various countries for doping violations.8 For example:
- In 2015, WADA prepared a report detailing state-sponsored doping by Russia in international competitions, including producing false urine samples and bribing anti-doping officials.9 Based on these violations, WADA ultimately banned Russia from competing in international competitions for four years; although, as spectators may recall, Russia's athletes were still allowed to compete as neutrals in the PyeongChang, Tokyo, and Beijing Olympics.10
- In 2024, WADA led the charge to impose a suspension on then-15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva, who had tested positive for a banned substance. This resulted in a decision by CAS to ban Valieva from competitions for four years and vacate Russia's gold medal in team skating in the 2022 Beijing Olympics.11
- In 2025, WADA entered into a case resolution agreement with
tennis pro Jannik Sinner, who had tested positive for a banned
anabolic steroid.12
WADA and Sinner agreed to a 3-month ban instead of appealing the case to CAS, which could have resulted in a longer ban.
United States Tensions with WADA
The United States has had a historically turbulent relationship with WADA—tensions flared in 2024 when reporters discovered that 23 Chinese swimmers had not been punished after testing positive for a banned substance in 2021. Eleven of the swimmers had also competed at the 2021 Summer Olympics.13 WADA chose to conceal the incident, even from its own executive board, and accepted the Chinese government's explanation that the swimmers had all eaten tainted food.14
The outrage from the United States at WADA's decision not to act was strong and bipartisan. The United States withheld its 2024 membership dues under President Biden and 2025 membership dues under President Trump. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) emphasized: "I can't imagine it's lost on WADA that this is a truly bipartisan effort, that it's not a U.S. senator, it is the U.S. Senate."15 Noted Olympians Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt, as well as US Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart, publicly excoriated WADA for its behavior.16
Then, on February 3, 2026, President Trump signed an appropriations bill that permanently stops payment of the United States' annual dues to WADA.17 Pursuant to the newly-signed law, the United States will not resume paying its membership dues until it receives "an audit of the World Anti-Doping Agency to be conducted by external anti-doping experts and experienced independent auditors that demonstrate the World Anti-Doping Agency's Executive Committee and Foundation are operating consistent with their duties."18 In practice, this law requires the United States to withhold its membership dues until it is satisfied that WADA is not beholden to outside influences, and in particular, the Chinese government.
WADA and the IOC have not taken kindly to the United States' actions and rhetoric. The IOC threatened to relocate the 2034 Winter Games from Utah unless the state agreed to include a new termination clause in the Olympic hosting contract giving the IOC authority to move the Games to another location if "the supreme authority of the World Anti Doping sic Agency in the fight against doping is not fully respected or if the application of the World Anti-Doping Code is hindered or undermined" by the United States.19The IOC's requirement to include this clause was met with severe blowback, but after agreeing to the provision, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said the clause "was the only way that we could guarantee that we could get the Games.20
Steptoe's Sports Integrity Team continues to monitor these and related developments. Our team routinely advises clients in compliance issues and can assist in conducting investigations, providing anti-doping training, and developing internal controls. For more information, please contact any of the Team members.
Footnotes
1. World Anti-Doping Agency, Who We Are, https://www.wada-ama.org/en/who-we-are.
2. World Anti-Doping Agency, What We Do, https://www.wada-ama.org/en/what-we-do.
3. Associated Press, U.S. Government Holds Back 2024 Funding From WADA, ESPN (Jan. 8, 2025), https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/43336764/us-government-holds-back-2024-funding-wada.
5. E.g., World Anti-Doping Agency, International Federations, https://www.wada-ama.org/en/anti-doping-partners/international-federations.
6. TAS / CAS, https://www.tas-cas.org/.
8. Rebecca R. Ruiz, Juliet Macur, and Ian Austen, Even With Confession of Cheating, World's Doping Watchdog Did Nothing, NY Times (Jun. 15, 2016), https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/16/sports/olympics/world-anti-doping-agency-russia-cheating.html.
9. Rebecca R. Ruiz, Drugs Pervade Sport in Russia, World Anti-Doping Agency Report Finds, NY Times (Nov. 9, 2015), https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/10/sports/russian-athletes-part-of-state-sponsored-doping-program-report-finds.html.
18. Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, Pub. L. No. 119-75.
20. Id.
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