The World Anti-Doping Agency withdrew a defamation lawsuit and an ethics case against American officials critical of its handling of failed tests by members of China’s Olympic swimming squad.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has dropped a defamation lawsuit against its American counterpart, a major retreat for the agency after nearly a year of escalating conflict over its handling of positive tests for a banned drug by 23 elite Chinese swimmers.
The decision by the agency — known by its acronym, WADA — to drop the suit it had filed in a Swiss court came months after it angrily reacted to comments from Travis T. Tygart, the leader of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Mr. Tygart accused WADA of covering up the tests after The New York Times revealed details of how swimmers in China were found to have had a banned heart drug in their systems at a competition just months before the Tokyo Olympics.
That revelation led to anger and recrimination among athletes and antidoping regulators around the world, including a deep rupture in an already strained relationship between WADA and the United States. The United States had contributed more than any other country to WADA’s budget, but withdrew its funding over doubts that WADA’s leadership was up to the task of keeping sports clean.
On top of walking away from the defamation suit, WADA also retreated on another matter: It dropped an ethics case against Dr. Rahul Gupta, who represented the United States on WADA’s executive board during the Biden administration.
A WADA official had claimed that Dr. Gupta, who had been the drug czar in the Biden White House, had failed to disclose to the agency what he knew about a Justice Department investigation into how the tests of the Chinese swimmers were handled. Dr. Gupta has said he knew nothing about the investigation, which is being run by the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston.
“The dismissal of the unauthorized and baseless lawsuit against USADA and the ethics complaint against the White House is complete vindication for us both,” the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said in a statement.