Faster, Higher, Stronger, Together, would ja?

The second quarter of 2021 is ending, and the WADA budget still does not have full funding. The US government says there will be no money until “real progress and a path for more substantial future reforms”. The US contribution to the total budget is about 7%, which is quite significant.

In general, there are two complaints: no chair in the executive committee and a soft position in relation to the Russians. Congress received its first report from the White House drug-control office, which suggested the U.S. did not get its money’s worth from what it gives to WADA each year. WADA responded by suggesting it might sanction countries that do not pay dues.

An interesting situation is emerging in which the champion country in the number of doping scandals (three out of the top 10 world scandals) puts forward demands for representation in the anti-doping agency: they need not be given a place, but they themselves have to be checked for a long time: recent scandals of the last month concern both, people: Brianna Rollins-McNeal, and horses: Medina Spirit. Not even mentioning the lack of samples from athletes who have changed their sex and are taking appropriate hormone therapy.

And the United States is far from alone, there are countries whose athletes take doping legally. The famous Estonian biathlete, former member of the country’s Olympic Committee, Even Tudeberg, especially loves to laugh at Norwegian asthmatics, for some reason still taking salbutamolum, which is used by very sick people for attacks of bronchial spasm.

It seems that either a total check of all national doping agencies and re-accreditation, or total liberalization can become good solutions. For example, like in the UFC. The UFC will no longer punish fighters for using marijuana in most cases, making a major change to its anti-doping policy. The world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion confirmed Thursday that it will no longer worry about positive tests for carboxy-THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, unless it believes a fighter used it intentionally to enhance performance. It will be fun, at least.