The Biden administration can help to restore credibility and fairness to international athletics.

Follow this authorLeana S. Wen's opinions

Astonishingly, Gupta told me during an interview that this committee did not learn about China’s positive tests until hours before the story broke in April. “This is not something that has ever been discussed in the executive committee or in any other venue that we were ever in,” Gupta said. “We were as surprised as everybody else.”

In other words, WADA’s leadership waited more than three years to inform its own executive committee of the revelations. An agency spokesperson told me that this event did not rise to the level of such disclosure, which is hardly credible. Had the organization followed its standard protocol, it would have provisionally suspended all of the 23 athletes in 2021. This would have caused huge uproar in China and major problems for the international sporting community, especially because China was set to host the 2022 Winter Games.

Advertisement

A matter with such significant geopolitical consequences surely merited a consultation with the executive committee. This is why the White House’s letter to WADA, which Gupta signed, demands an explanation for why these members were not made aware of the agency’s decision, “as they have been for other, previous, doping cases.” It also calls for a truly independent commission to reopen the investigation into the 23 swimmers.

These are a good start, but the Biden administration should go further. A new law, passed in 2020, empowers the U.S. government to prosecute individuals for doping schemes at international sporting competitions that involve U.S. athletes. Prosecutors can seek fines up to $1 million and prison sentences of up to 10 years for doping conspiracies.

The Justice Department should not hesitate to open its own investigation into this matter. There is a bipartisan push for such action: Last month, Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) urged the attorney general and the FBI director to find out whether the alleged doping practices were state-sponsored. As the congressmen wrote in a letter, such a finding “could warrant further diplomatic measures by the United States and the international........

© Washington Post