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World Anti-Doping Agency officials, furious at U.S. investigations into the handling of positive tests, have sought to exclude a Biden administration representative from its board meetings.
Sept. 10, 2024, 2:21 p.m. ET
The fight between the United States and the world’s antidoping regulator over the handling of positive tests by elite Chinese swimmers has escalated in recent weeks and drawn in a powerful new player: the Biden White House.
The regulator, the World Anti-Doping Agency, known as WADA, informed the White House last month that its officials were seeking to bar the administration’s representative from any deliberations about positive tests by Chinese athletes at the agency’s leadership meeting this week in Turkey.
The attempt to exclude the official, Dr. Rahul Gupta, who is the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is seen as part of a larger effort by WADA to push back on American criticism of the agency’s handling of the doping allegations and to try to shut down an F.B.I. investigation into the matter.
WADA’s critics say the agency’s push to have Dr. Gupta barred from the discussions is meant to undercut the United States’ ability to voice concerns over how the Chinese tests were handled before the past two Summer Olympics, and to hamstring calls for more transparency and accountability in the global antidoping system.
The White House has responded forcefully, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with government and antidoping officials. The heated back and forth is expected to come to a head on Thursday at the meeting in Turkey.
