How does the U.S. Rodchenkov Act undermine global anti-doping rules?

Editor's note: As athletes around the world compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, a fierce row over anti-doping issues is intensifying among global anti-doping communities. CGTN rolls out a series of reports to show the U.S.'s role in the controversy and how its dominance in international sports is harming global anti-doping rules.

Clashes inside the global anti-doping community, in particular among the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA), have been raging for months after the U.S. accused 23 Chinese swimmers of doping and raised concerns about WADA's integrity in handling the case prior to the 2024 Paris Olympics which began on July 26.

The contention escalated recently after CHINADA called for an independent investigation into USADA's cover-up of anti-doping rule violations on Thursday and voiced suspicion that there is a "larger-scale, organized and systemic doping problem" in U.S. sports. China's claim came one day after WADA issued a statement revealing that the U.S. allowed athletes who had doped to compete for years in at least one case without ever publishing or sanctioning their anti-doping rule violations.

Experts say the responses from China and the global anti-doping agency are seen as a reaction to the U.S. hegemony in international sports, as it used its domestic law to meddle in WADA's investigation and review, challenging the authority of WADA while turning a blind eye to American athletes' drug doping issues.

What is the Rodchenkov Act?

The U.S. passed the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act in 2020. It extends U.S. law enforcement jurisdiction to international sporting competitions involving American athletes or those with financial connections to the U.S.

The act criminalizes doping schemes intended to influence sports events, targets athletes' entourage, such as coaches, agents, dealers, managers and government officials, and allows U.S. prosecutors to seek prison terms of up to 10 years and fines of up to $1 million. Experts say it gives U.S. officials near-Orwellian powers of prosecution.

On May 21, the U.S. asked the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI to investigate the case of 23 Chinese swimmers under federal law. The 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), a banned drug, in 2021 but were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics months later. The U.S. publicly accused WADA of a cover-up over its handling of the case, although WADA, CHINADA, and two independent investigations concluded that the swimmers were inadvertently exposed to TMZ through contamination at a hotel where they stayed, and there was no mismanagement or cover-up.

The U.S. was not convinced by the result. Since then, World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki has been subpoenaed by the U.S. government to testify in the U.S. criminal investigation.

WADA has defended its handling of the China case, saying it had been guided by science and expert consultations. It said the Rodchenkov Act undermines global anti-doping rules and that unilateral U.S. investigations, "encouraged by USADA," risk isolating the U.S. from global sport.

WADA chief Witold Banka told AFP in late July that the U.S. cannot give itself the right to investigate anti-doping cases in all countries in the world, and it has to be part of the world anti-doping system. He added that if countries follow the U.S.'s lead and enact similar legislation, it would lead to chaos in the global anti-doping movement.

How does the U.S. politicize sports events?

The Rodchenkov Act is "a tool for USADA to put itself above the rest of the world, perhaps even to replace WADA as the global regulator for anti-doping," Banka said at a session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Paris on July 24. He noted that WADA's reputation was attacked with outrageous and politically motivated allegations.

"This cannot be allowed to stand," said Banka. He warned that if U.S. authorities assert jurisdiction over cases that have nothing to do with them, it risks putting the U.S. outside the global anti-doping system.

WADA had announced plans to take USADA to its independent Compliance Review Committee next month, marking the first time to do so by WADA, potentially jeopardizing the U.S.'s ability to host the 2028 and 2034 Olympics.

Further aggravating the acrimonious feud, the U.S. recently threatened to cut funding for WADA. It introduced the "Restoring Confidence in the World Anti-Doping Agency Act of 2024" last week, which would grant the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy permanent authority to reduce or revoke U.S. funding for WADA.

Experts say the U.S. farce surrounding the Chinese swimmer case fully exposes its long-arm jurisdiction, which not only violates international law but also attempts to hijack international organizations. "Such a move fully exposed its hegemony and politicization of sports events," said Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University.

According to World Aquatics, Chinese swimmers were the most tested athletes during the period ahead of the Paris Olympics. It said they had been tested on average 21 times since January 1, 2024, while Australian swimmers were tested four times and U.S. swimmers six times in the same period.

Li said the U.S. is now using every possible issue for geopolitical competition with China. He said what they are doing is using sports as a weapon and a tool, which reveals a loss of basic rationality among American political elites in their China policies.

WADA has said that it has been unfairly caught in the middle of geopolitical tensions between superpowers. In an interview with the BBC, James Fitzgerald, head of WADA's media relations, said, "Certain individuals [in the U.S.] are attempting to score political points purely on the basis that the athletes in question are Chinese."

In an online poll conducted by CGTN, 96.25 percent of respondents criticize the U.S. for its double standards in doping regulation, and 93.45 percent say the U.S. is increasingly politicizing and instrumenting the issue.