Senate passes Anti-Doping bill

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) –
The US Senate passed an anti-doping bill Monday that would allow American officials to seek criminal charges against people involved in doping at international sports events in which US athletes, sponsors, or broadcasters are participants, DW reports. While the bill is expected to be signed by President Trump, The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has expressed its concerns that the bill does not apply to US professional and collegiate sports leagues: the original draft bill included these domestic leagues.

Welcoming the legislation, head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) Travis Tygart said: “The act will provide the tools needed to protect clean athletes and hold accountable international doping conspiracies that defraud sport, sponsors and that harm athletes.”

WADA has expressed a further concern that the bill will discourage whistleblowers from coming forward if it is possible they could be prosecuted as well. Moreover, the agency told Reuters: “[The bill] may lead to overlapping laws in different jurisdictions that will compromise having a single set of rules for all athletes around the world.” Tygart, however, has said the act protects whistleblowers from “retaliation” and provides “restitution for athletes defrauded by conspiracies to dope.”

Passed unanimously by the House of Representatives in 2019, the Anti-Doping Act is named after whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, who reported Russian state-sponsored doping during the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Persons found guilty under the legislation may face fines of up to $1 million (€840,000) and prison sentences of up to 10 years.

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