IOC, fearing U.S. FBI probes, drops a bombshell in Salt Lake 2034 Olympics contract

PARIS — The International Olympic Committee confirmed Wednesday that Salt Lake City will host the 2034 Winter Olympics — but, in the process, issued a veiled threat to United States authorities who might want to police doping in sports.

At the 142nd IOC session here in Paris, where a vote confirmed that Salt Lake would get the 2034 Winter Games, the bigger news was that of a last-minute amendment to the host contract.

The amendment allows the IOC to “terminate” the contract “in cases where the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency in the fight against doping is not fully respected, or if the application of the world anti-doping code is hindered or undermined,” IOC vice president John Coates said.

The context is a U.S. law that allows the Department of Justice to prosecute international doping conspiracies — and that has apparently left some international sports officials afraid of entering the U.S., lest they get ensnared by an FBI investigation.

Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake bid, said at a news conference Wednesday that international sports federations are "worried, 'Can I come to the United States safely?'"

He and U.S. Olympic officials were approached about the potential amendment less than two weeks ago, beginning on July 12, he said. They signed off on it because, Bullock said, "we need to make sure that everybody feels safe coming — and welcome."

The specific context for the bombshell — which initially came "out of the blue," Bullock said — is an ongoing U.S. federal investigation into the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance in 2021 and weren’t punished. Chinese authorities said the swimmers had been victims of contamination. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted that explanation and chose not to appeal. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and others, however, have raised questions about the case after journalistic investigations brought it to light in April. USADA CEO Travis Tygart has accused WADA of “allowing China to sweep 23 positive tests for a potent performance-enhancing drug under the carpet.”

Amid a storm of skepticism and legal threats, USADA also lobbied United States congressmen to get involved.

The U.S. Department of Justice, meanwhile, has been on the case. Swimming’s global governing body, World Aquatics, confirmed earlier this month that a federal probe into the case is ongoing. It is the highest-profile investigation yet under the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, the groundbreaking 2021 U.S. law. And it has sports officials concerned.

WADA and the IOC have bristled at the DOJ's involvement. They have fought against the Rodchenkov Act in the past.

Now, they have taken the fight to Salt Lake’s host contract.

The issue, according to Bullock, "really became more of a focus" this month, with Salt Lake virtually guaranteed to secure its status as 2034 host at the IOC session on the eve of these Paris Olympics. Bullock said that the IOC came to him and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) seeking "assurances."

He didn't specify what those assurances were, or what specific "concern" had to be assuaged, but speculation has ramped up around IOC members and WADA officials, their inevitable visits to the U.S., and their corresponding vulnerability to the U.S. DOJ.

"We knew something had to be done ... to bring comfort to IOC members," Bullock said.

So, they and the USOPC — led by president Gene Sykes, who has been nominated to be elected as an IOC member — signed off on the amendment, which is "in the special section regarding the few instances of termination [of the contract]," Bullock said.

They also indicated that it would, essentially become leverage in anti-doping talks that will take place after the 2024 Paris Games. "We'll work very closely with the Department of Justice, we'll work with the Senate, we'll work with the Biden administration and whatever the next administration is, so that we can get a comfort level in what we're going to do to work together," Utah governor Spencer Cox said at a news conference.

He noted that WADA, the IOC, USADA and the U.S. government all, in theory, have the same goal: to clean up sport.

Those organizations, though, have sparred, in part because USADA and Tygart see WADA as "just a sport lapdog," as Tygart said in a strong Wednesday statement, rather than an independent body designed to serve and protect clean athletes.

"It is shocking to see the IOC itself stooping to threats in an apparent effort to silence those seeking answers to what are now known as facts," Tygart said. "It seems more apparent than ever that WADA violated the rules and needs accountability and reform to truly be the global watchdog that clean athletes need. Today’s demonstration further showed that as it stands today, WADA is just a sport lapdog, and clean athletes have little chance."

The Chinese swimming case — which WADA passed over and buried on the eve of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 Beijing Olympics — has amplified that criticism.

WADA, which was founded in 1999 by the IOC, and which is partially funded by the IOC, "is heavily run by the sport movement,” Rob Koehler, an athlete advocate who worked at WADA from 2002-2018, told Yahoo Sports.

The critics saw Wednesday's news as yet another example of the lockstep relationship between WADA and the IOC, and of WADA's lack of independence. Some also asked: Why is the contractual amendment necessary if WADA and Olympic officials have handled doping cases flawlessly?

"It is shocking to see the IOC itself stooping to threats in an apparent effort to silence those seeking answers," Tygart said in his statement. He later continued: "If WADA has nothing to hide, they would welcome the chance to answer questions, not run and hide."

"Shame on the IOC to favor threats over transparency," Koehler told Yahoo Sports via text. "If they had nothing to hide, they should be going into the U.S. and Salt Lake City with open arms to speak with anyone that has questions. But that’s clearly not the case."

In contrast to those combative statements, USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland walked a fine line between USADA's stance and WADA's.

"This is an opportunity for us to bring organizations together to improve the entire anti-doping ecosystem in collaboration and unity with one another," she said. "That's our hope, and that's what we think is coming.

Coates, on the other hand, was forceful. He said that the USOPC and Salt Lake bid officials had given “unambiguous statements that their organizations are committed to partnering with the IOC in the discussions that must — say that word again, must — be had with the various U.S. authorities that they fully respect the supreme authority of WADA, and that the application of the world anti-doping code is not hindered or not undermined.”

“We appreciated that,” Coates said, as Salt Lake officials stared back at him with serious expressions. “And we are looking forward to, as soon as possible after the Paris Games, working with you to achieve those statements.”