Doping-US at risk of losing both 2028 and 2034 Olympics, says Pound
By Steve Keating
July 16 (Reuters) -The United States is at risk of losing both the 2028 Summer and 2034 Winter Olympics if American law enforcement over reaches in its investigation of Chinese swimmers, said former senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound.
Any country wanting to compete in or stage an international sporting event must be compliant with the anti-doping code.
Pound, the Canadian lawyer who led the set up of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), believes the Rodchenkov Act the U.S. is using to investigate the positive tests of 23 Chinese swimmers could disqualify it as an Olympic host.
The Rodchenkov Act legislation passed in 2020 extends U.S. law enforcement jurisdiction to any international sporting competitions that involve American athletes or have financial connections to the United States.
"That legislation is non-compliant with the anti-doping code," Pound told Reuters on Tuesday. "My guess is that one of the steps that WADA is going to take at this point is to turn this particular issue over to the compliance review committee.
"Which I suspect, if or when there's a hearing on it, they will declare the United States non-compliant.
"It would mean they could not host the Olympics."
WADA had no comment when asked about taking the U.S. to the non-compliant review committee but other anti-doping officials who did not want to be named confirmed the idea is being discussed.
WADA believes the Rodchenkov Act is national legislation not in harmony with the anti-doing code that allows U.S. authorities to relitigate cases already decided.
With contracts signed and advance plans in place, stripping Los Angeles of the 2028 Olympics is unlikely.
Yet Pound told Reuters that the IOC might consider delaying the confirmation of Salt Lake City as host of the 2034 Winter Olympics.
Salt Lake is expected to be rubber stamped as 2034 hosts during the IOC Congress next week ahead of the Paris Summer Games but Pound said Olympic chiefs could use the opportunity to send a message by delaying the confirmation.
"There's certainly an opportunity, because apparently we have a session in Puerto Rico in November," said Pound. "An easy way to finesse that would be to say, well listen these would be Games in the Americas maybe that's the place we should make our announcement in Puerto Rico.
"If I were King of the mountain, I would call up (United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee chair) Gene Sykes and say, listen the drums are starting to beat here and it's this legislation that puts the U.S. offside."
Reuters has contacted The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, the Salt Lake City bid committee and the United States Anti-Doping Agency for comment.
Such a move would further inflame tensions between WADA and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) which has accused the global body of a cover-up and called on the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate how the Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) weeks before the Tokyo Olympics.
The swimmers were cleared by a Chinese investigation which said they were inadvertently exposed to the drug through contamination and allowed to compete at the Tokyo Games.
Two independent investigations one by Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier looking into WADA's handling of the case and the other an audit by World Aquatics reached similar conclusions that there was no mismanagement or cover-up.
Other than voicing its support for WADA, the IOC has not so far waded into the threat of a U.S. investigation but the powerful Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) made its position clear, saying on Friday it had growing concerns about sending officials to the United States over fears they could be arrested.
"When you look at the context, this was a national competition, a domestic China competition, there wasn't an American within 6,000 miles," said Pound. "Now all of a sudden they're trying to upgrade this to a Rodchenkov violation, which is just bad.
"You've already seen that shot across the bow from ASOIF, saying, hey listen this is serious and the U.S. may be disqualified from participation in a lot of these events.
"I think there's a danger of USADA and the U.S. playing itself offside in a way that could jeopardize both the 2028 and 2034 Games."
Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto. Editing by Toby Davis
면책조항: XM Group 회사는 체결 전용 서비스와 온라인 거래 플랫폼에 대한 접근을 제공하여, 개인이 웹사이트에서 또는 웹사이트를 통해 이용 가능한 콘텐츠를 보거나 사용할 수 있도록 허용합니다. 이에 대해 변경하거나 확장할 의도는 없습니다. 이러한 접근 및 사용에는 다음 사항이 항상 적용됩니다: (i) 이용 약관, (ii) 위험 경고, (iii) 완전 면책조항. 따라서, 이러한 콘텐츠는 일반적인 정보에 불과합니다. 특히, 온라인 거래 플랫폼의 콘텐츠는 금융 시장에서의 거래에 대한 권유나 제안이 아닙니다. 금융 시장에서의 거래는 자본에 상당한 위험을 수반합니다.
온라인 거래 플랫폼에 공개된 모든 자료는 교육/정보 목적으로만 제공되며, 금융, 투자세 또는 거래 조언 및 권고, 거래 가격 기록, 금융 상품 또는 원치 않는 금융 프로모션의 거래 제안 또는 권유를 포함하지 않으며, 포함해서도 안됩니다.
이 웹사이트에 포함된 모든 의견, 뉴스, 리서치, 분석, 가격, 기타 정보 또는 제3자 사이트에 대한 링크와 같이 XM이 준비하는 콘텐츠 뿐만 아니라, 제3자 콘텐츠는 일반 시장 논평으로서 "현재" 기준으로 제공되며, 투자 조언으로 여겨지지 않습니다. 모든 콘텐츠가 투자 리서치로 해석되는 경우, 투자 리서치의 독립성을 촉진하기 위해 고안된 법적 요건에 따라 콘텐츠가 의도되지 않았으며, 준비되지 않았다는 점을 인지하고 동의해야 합니다. 따라서, 관련 법률 및 규정에 따른 마케팅 커뮤니케이션이라고 간주됩니다. 여기에서 접근할 수 있는 앞서 언급한 정보에 대한 비독립 투자 리서치 및 위험 경고 알림을 읽고, 이해하시기 바랍니다.
