Olympics-IOC asks for dialogue between U.S. and WADA over doping dispute

By Karolos Grohmann

PARIS (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee has asked for talks between the World Anti-Doping Agency and the United States, including the country's anti-doping agency USADA, to resolve a dispute over jurisdiction in doping matters, it said on Wednesday.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday threatened to cut U.S. funding for WADA, accusing it of failing to properly investigate alleged doping by Chinese Olympic swimmers.

The U.S., the largest single country funder of WADA, has accused the global anti-doping body of not disclosing that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for performance-enhancing trimetazidine (TMZ) in China months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

"We have asked for a dialogue between WADA and all the stakeholders," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told a press conference.

"From our understanding the question is about respect of international agreements and those international agreements have been signed by everyone around the world, including the United States."

The swimmers were cleared by a Chinese investigation, which said they were inadvertently exposed to the drug through contamination at a hotel but the Department of Justice has since launched an investigation.

WADA said it had no evidence to challenge China's findings.

The incident, however, cast a shadow over the Paris Olympics and sparked a major row between the global and American anti-doping agencies, drawing in the IOC which said WADA was the only global body responsible for anti-doping.

WADA responded to U.S. allegations by saying it would take the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to the Independent Compliance Review Committee, a move that could jeopardize plans for the U.S. to host the 2028 summer and 2034 winter Olympics in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City respectively.

The IOC, which established WADA, has told the U.S. to fall in line and added an amendment in the host city contract for the 2034 Games in Salt Lake City that would allow it to terminate the deal "in cases where the supreme authority of WADA" is not respected.

Any country wanting to compete in or stage an international sporting event must be compliant with the anti-doping code, meaning if the review went against the U.S. it would have to forfeit participating in and hosting the Olympics.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Christian Radnedge)