Chinese generosity in lead-up to cleared doping tests reflects its growing influence on WADA

In the two years before the World Anti-Doping Agency signed off on clearing 23 Chinese swimmers of intentionally taking performance enhancers, that country's government contributed nearly $2 million above its yearly requirements to WADA programs, including one designed to strengthen the agency's investigations and intelligence unit.

The Associated Press obtained confidential minutes from meetings of the WADA executive committee that lists China as having given $993,000 in 2018 and $992,000 in 2019, two years that led to one of its Olympians being elected as one of the agency's vice presidents.

The Chinese contributions were part of a pattern that illustrates the country’s growing influence on the drug-fighting agency at about the same time WADA’s relationship with its biggest contributor, the United States, was fraying.

There is no indication from the documents AP reviewed that China donated the money in expectation of a quid pro quo to gloss over positive drug tests. In fact, WADA didn't hide the extra funding; it put out a little-noticed news release in December 2020 announcing China's $992,000 donation.

"All this was done in total transparency," WADA director general Olivier Niggli said Monday during a news conference to discuss the case. “And frankly, the (question) has absolutely nothing to do with what we are discussing today. So, the optics is a question (I appreciate), but I have absolutely no problem with the relationship we have with China.”

The main part of WADA’s budget each year comes from a 50-50 split between governments of the world and the Olympic movement. China’s additional contributions came on top of $430,000 its government supplied WADA as part of the routine payments in 2019.

The U.S. gave the largest regular contribution that year — $2.51 million, but that came as its relationship with WADA was growing tense.

By 2021, the U.S. was sparring with WADA over passage of a new law written to combat doping in response to the long-running drug scandal in Russia. It also was withholding part of its payment, with the country’s top government representative in the world anti-doping structure referencing “sorry state of affairs” that existed in WADA’s governance.

While the U.S. tangled with WADA, China was chipping in on what was essentially a fundraising effort by WADA to ramp up its fledgling intelligence and investigations (I&I) program, which played a role in the current case. One of the documents obtained by the AP references committee member Ugur Erdener briefing the panel in September 2020 about the program and telling members that “only China, as far as he knew, had made a donation of 500,000 US dollars.”

That amount would grow to $992,000 by the end of 2020 — nearly three-quarters of the money received for the program to that point, and an amount surpassed only by India when it contributed $1 million a year later, according to WADA's 2021 annual report.

That China was about to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and India was on board to host a key IOC meeting could have played into the donations.

The giving also came in the leadup to the November 2019 election of IOC member Yang Yang of China to WADA vice president. Yang was elected to her second three-year term in 2022.

Last year, according to another WADA document seen by the AP, the Chinese sports products company ANTA Sports signed a three-year deal to provide WADA-branded sports apparel. Among the other groups ANTA sponsors are China's national swimming federation and the Chinese Olympic committee.

Last week, reporting by The New York Times and German broadcaster ARD revealed that WADA had cleared the Chinese swimmers of doping violations by accepting the Chinese anti-doping agency's reasoning that the athletes had been exposed to a banned heart medication through contamination.

There was no public notice of the case, nor any provisional suspension, both of which are called for in the world anti-doping code. The quiet handling of the cases occurred about seven months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Even a provisional suspension at that time could have put those swimmers' eligibility for the games in jeopardy.

WADA used its news conference to defend and explain its process, saying in essence there was no effective way to win a case based on countering China's claims that the swimmers had been subject to contamination.

“In the absence of any evidence of any sort of misconduct ... I'm very confident we would have had close to a 0% chance in establishing” a case that the swimmers intentionally cheated, WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel explained.

Of the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive, 13 competed in Tokyo and four of those 13 won medals. Many of the athletes still compete for China and are expected to swim at this year's Paris Olympics.

According to the executive committee notes, the program China donated to was part of an effort to strengthen WADA's I&I activities and had potential for up to $5 million in funding. At a 2019 meeting, IOC President Thomas Bach had committed the Olympic body to matching government contributions up to $2.5 million.

But about a year later, according to Erdener, the Turkish IOC member who reported on the fundraising, only China had stepped up to pay.

By the end of 2021, according to WADA's annual report, the I&I program had received a total of $3.53 million from nine countries' governments. In addition to India's $1 million, Canada, which is the home of WADA, donated $748,000. Saudi Arabia gave $500,000, and none of the other five countries gave more than $108,000.

AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

The Chinese national flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, file)

FILE - The Chinese and the Olympic flag wave during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing. In the two years before the World Anti-Doping Agency cleared 23 Chinese swimmers of doping allegations, that country’s government contributed nearly $2 million in additional funding to WADA programs, including one designed to strengthen the agency’s investigations and intelligence unit. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, file)

HONOLULU (AP) — A judge on Friday forced the Hawaii attorney general's office to turn over to lawyers involved in the hundreds of lawsuits over last summer's Maui wildfires all documents, interviews and data collected by the outside team hired to investigate the disaster.

Attorneys representing plaintiffs suing over the August fires filed a motion last month asking a judge to compel the state provide them with the material gathered by the Fire Safety Research Institute, which was hired by the state to investigate.

The state refused, saying disclosing the records would “jeopardize and hinder” the investigation. In court documents opposing the motion, the state called the request “premature, baseless and frivolous,” and asked a judge to order that attorneys fees be paid to the state for defending against the motion.

Soon after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century ripped through the historic town of Lahaina and killed 101 people, Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez announced hiring outside investigators. Last month Lopez and representatives from the Fire Safety Research Institute released a report on the first phase of the investigation, which said the head of the emergency management agency dragged his heels about returning to the island amid the unfolding crisis, while a broad communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts.

During a Friday hearing on the island of Maui, state Deputy Attorney General David Matsumiya told Judge Peter Cahill the state is concerned that releasing information could prompt the six people who haven't been interviewed yet to change their stories.

Cahill balked.

“Do you really believe that's going to be happening?” he asked, clearly upset. “And so what if they change their stories? Aren't they entitled to?”

Cahill seemed to indicate concerns with the investigation, including whether people interviewed were advised that they weren't obligated to answer questions.

“By the way, the taxpayers are paying for this,” the judge continued.

Lopez said last month the investigation contract was initially not to exceed $1.5 million, but because they are behind schedule, the contract was extended. According to an updated contract, the cost increased by $2.5 million, not to exceed a total of $4 million.

The judge's order is of “grave concern,” the attorney general's office said in a statement after the hearing.

“The independent, objective fact-finding process and analysis is critical to determining what county and state agencies must do to ensure that a tragedy like this never happens again,” the statement said. “Premature release of these materials may allow external factors to influence the analysis.”

The attorney general is reviewing options and will soon decide on an appropriate course of action.

Cahill told Matsumiya he understands the state's concerns, but not giving the information to the attorneys would delay litigation. The investigation is important, and it was a wise investment to hire an outside agency given the state lacks a fire marshal, he said, “but it's also important that people have their day in court.”

Cahill noted there are some 400 lawsuits involving thousands of plaintiffs.

“It's frustrating the process of litigation,” Cahill said, “which is also a truth-seeking mechanism.”

David Minkin, an attorney representing Maui County, suggested to the judge that the investigative process was tainted.

Investigators “showed up in Lahaina, said we're here from the AG's office and started talking to people,” without informing them of their rights, he said.

Matsumiya said the state is trying to “protect the integrity of the investigation, which is designed to create a better future for Lahaina, and all of those people in Lahaina."

But Cahill responded that “the past in this case, given what's occurred on this island, needs to be take care of as well,” and that litigation will determine whether there were any legal breaches of duty.

During a separate hearing later Friday to discuss coordination of the lawsuits, Cahill said a handful of lawsuits are scheduled to go to trial in November.

FILE - Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez and members of the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) hold a press conference on the Maui Wildfire Phase One Report findings on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Honolulu. A judge on Friday, May 3, 2024, forced the Hawaii attorney general's turn over to lawyers involved in the hundreds of lawsuits over last summer's Maui wildfires all documents, interviews and data collected by the outside team hired to investigate the deadly disaster. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia, File)

FILE - The aftermath of a wildfire is visible in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 17, 2023. A judge on Friday, May 3, 2024, forced the Hawaii attorney general's turn over to lawyers involved in the hundreds of lawsuits over last summer's Maui wildfires all documents, interviews and data collected by the outside team hired to investigate the deadly disaster. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)