Overview
- U.S. drug czar Sara Carter published an open letter on Monday condemning WADA working-group recommendations and calling the U.S. exclusion from an executive meeting unjustified.
- The WADA working group proposed shifting some testing duties away from host-country national anti-doping organizations to an independent, nonpartisan body to reduce real or perceived conflicts of interest.
- WADA said the United States was not invited to the executive committee meeting because the U.S. government had not paid its WADA dues and that the meeting is meant to discuss the recommendations rather than to take immediate action.
- USADA chief executive Travis T. Tygart sharply criticized the ideas on Tuesday, warning that giving sport federations or event organizers a greater role in testing would weaken independent national programs and risk athletes’ right to fair competition.
- The debate traces to high-profile scandals — including cases involving Chinese swimmers and long-running Russian violations — and could materially alter who runs testing at major events and how confident athletes and fans are in results ahead of LA 2028.