The US has exposed the World Anti-Doping Agency's precarious funding model | Hacker News Reader

The US has exposed the World Anti-Doping Agency's precarious funding model

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23 pointsPaulHoule9 comments

I'm amazed this one isn't flagged yet...

I'm also amazed that things like curling, which was invented by a bunch of drunk Canadians as a way to have an excuse to spend even more time at the bar, now requires an international chemical testing regimen to ensure the participants aren't ingesting performance enhancing drugs (other than alcohol).

The fact that "sporting" activities are given such treatment is truly one of the great wastes of resources that could be cleaned up.

Fortunately tech bros like Peter Thiel are backing an "All Drug Olympics"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/01/31/billionai...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAdG-iTilWU

This is good. The regular olympics is already an "all drug olympics". This will just increase visibility & safety.

I think people who haven't participated in competitive sports don't realise the extent to which PEDs are used. It's easy to point at obvious examples like weightlifting, where many top level athletes get popped periodically, take some time off and then come back even stronger [0]. Yet we like to believe that athletes like Usain Bolt (who somehow beat numerous confirmed doped athletes and comes from a country with a ... less than stelar reputation for doping) are clean [1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasha_Talakhadze#2013_doping_b... [1] No proof here as it's an accusation, but consider this discussion about 9 of the top 10 sprinters all being popped, with Bolt being the exception - https://www.reddit.com/r/trackandfield/comments/626oc3/open_...

Why do things like this get flagged at all?

I've recently come to consider WADA as an extension of US domestic anti-drug policy, so I'm surprised to see this

The first of many I suspect. The United States has spent the better part of a century now projecting soft power all over the world, in a number of ways, many not even necessarily nefarious. We're a reliable member of the global community. Well, were. Since the first Trump administration we've steadily been losing that global influence (largely to China) because dipshits who don't understand international relations keep getting put in charge of international relations, not the least of which is the Toddler in Chief himself, and think it's a waste of money.

Then they go on to complain how China is stepping into those vacuums and gaining that influence, the irony completely lost on them. Or they're just flagrant con men, take your pick.

I am not sure if we read the same article, but the article I read specifically calls out funding by nations as problematic:

> This is because WADA relies heavily on funding from stakeholders, some of which have had the highest number of doping cases to investigate, such as Russia, China and the US. This in turn creates serious challenges for WADA in maintaining its own independence and impartiality.

The US has had more olympic medals stripped than China due to doping, but less than Russia [1]. This could be because China is better at hiding/masking it. It could be because US athletes get tested more thoroughly. However, the article calls out the relationship between funding and nations that are interested in doping and winning athletic competitions as problematic. Your... quick dismissive and berating diversion to our current administration is not very enlightening.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1288717/countries-most-s...

In authoritarian countries, sports have long been an important tool for laundering their international image. East Germany had a particularly notorious government-run doping program (with horrible long-term health consequences), and the Russian system is well-documented too. Talented young athletes, often while still children, are coerced into doping, with the full backing of security services, which use all available resources to manipulate the subjects and cover up any traces. I can't think of any Western country ever placing such emphasis on professional sports. That's definitely a factor too.

If you haven't seen it, I recommend watching Icarus, an exceptional documentary on state-sponsored doping: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6333060/

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