A New York Times story about the impact of an international doping issue posted Tuesday features a video of Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and others joyously reacting in Paris to the announcement that the state will host the 2034 Winter Games. But the headline suggests little reason for celebration.
“A Doping Feud Almost Cost Salt Lake City the Olympics. It Still Might,” the headline reads, adding, “A Justice Department investigation into whether antidoping authorities covered up positive tests for elite Chinese swimmers set off a power play to kill the inquiry.”
The story of how the U.S. government’s investigation led to a last-minute addition of a new termination clause in Utah’s contract with the International Olympic Committee signed by the governor, isn’t new. It was first reported by the Deseret News on July 24, after the IOC awarded the state a second Winter Games.
The new clause, the result of nearly a week of intense behind-the-scenes negotiations, allows the IOC to take back the 2034 Games if “the supreme authority of the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) in the fight against doping is not fully respected or if the application of the World Anti-Doping Code is hindered or undermined” by the United States.
The New York Times story details how an international swimming official was surprised by a subpoena as he was leaving a New York airport in late June, escalating the controversy over the Chinese tests first reported in April “into a broader confrontation over the power to police global sports, with consequences possibly extending to who is allowed to host an Olympic Games.”
Referring to the examination of “documents, transcripts and a range of interviews,” The New York Times:
- Described U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Chair Gene Sykes and other American officials as being pressured to help end the federal investigation when “Olympic officials staged a dramatic power play” in what was called “an extraordinary public spectacle,” in meetings ahead of the start of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
- Declared that Sykes, who was seeking to become an IOC member, “and the other Americans capitulated.” Cox is featured in a video from the bid committee’s presentation to the IOC ahead of the final vote, pledging to “use all the levers of power open to us to resolve these concerns,” including enlisting assistance from the U.S. president.
- Claimed that in Utah, the “excitement over winning the 2034 Games was tempered by their alarm among some political figures over the deal,” saying unnamed “top state Republicans were shocked that the delegation, including the governor, had given in to what they saw as the humiliating demands of a foreign organization, one that they believed was trying to protect China, according to a senior Utah Republican involved in the discussions.”
Cox had no comment on The New York Times article, according to his spokesman, Robert Carroll.
Following the IOC vote, Cox told reporters the contract change had to be accepted if Utah wanted to host another Olympics. The governor signed the contract on behalf of the state, committing that Utah taxpayers would cover any shortfalls from the privately funded, $4 billion event.
“We have agreed if the United States does not support or violates the World Anti Doping (Agency’s) rules that they can withdraw the Games from us and from the United States. That was the only way that we could guarantee that we could get the Games. So we’re going to be working very hard obviously with U.S. officials to make sure that doesn’t happen, that we’re able to keep the Games,” Cox said in Paris.
Utah Olympic official ‘fully confident’ state will hold 2034 Games
Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games behind the bid, said there was no capitulation.
“No, we followed the USOPC’s lead in working with the IOC to address a concern and the added language to the contract only added emphasis to an existing clause,” Bullock told the Deseret News Tuesday, adding he believes “the story missed a central theme,” that both anti-doping agencies must be successful for anti-doping to be most effective.
“The conflict between them continues and needs to be resolved,” he said. “This is the key focus of the USOPC through this entire process and we appreciate their work in this regard.”
Bullock expressed confidence the Games won’t be taken away.
“Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 remains firmly committed to anti-doping measures in sport to ensure both a clean playing field for competition and protection of the health and welfare of athletes. Under the leadership of the IOC and USOPC, we urge WADA and USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) come together to work more effectively together. We are fully confident in the support of the IOC for Salt Lake-Utah to hold a spectacular Games in 2034,” he said.
Sykes, who is taking the lead on attempting to resolve the rift between U.S. and international anti-doping authorities, told the Deseret News in August that he did “not accept the view that this is blackmail. I do not think we accepted some condition that is an unmanageable condition. His advice to Utahns then: “‘Please rest assured. This is not something you need to fear.’”
In October, the USOPC leader suggested there had been some progress, telling reporters, “the temperature has already come down somewhat. I think both parties have decided they’d be a little bit more respectful of each other, even when they disagree about some things, and we’ve seen a little less name calling, a few less allegations.” He made similar statements in December.
Were Utah Republicans really ‘shocked’ by the contract change?
The state lawmakers in charge of overseeing the Olympic bid as co-chairman of the Utah Legislature’s Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Coordination Committee didn’t know of any “(t)op state Republicans” who were shocked by the contract change, as The New York Time reported, citing an unnamed source.
“I’d been made aware a couple of days beforehand. I was under the impression that most of the political leaders had been made aware of it,” the House co-chairman, Rep. Jon Hawkins, R-Pleasant Grove, said. Hawkins said the only Olympic concern he’s heard about from colleagues is the Opening Ceremonies of the Paris Games, seen by some as mocking the Biblical Last Supper.
The Senate co-chairman, incoming Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, said the timing of the doping controversy was “really unfortunate but ultimately we got the Games. We are going to work with the IOC and we’re going to tackle doping together.”
McKell said the reaction to the added clause in the host contract was not what The New York Times suggested.
“I think the reaction here was excitement to have the Games,” he said, followed by recognizing the work ahead on doping.
“That more hostile approach that you saw in The New York Times article, that’s certainly not the sentiment that I felt as an elected leader here,” McKell said. “I think the leaders that I spoke with here in Utah were excited that the Games are coming back in 2034. We’re confident that we will work effectively with the IOC.”
Both Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, traveled to Paris for the bid announcement, as did Hawkins. McKell also made the trip to the 2024 Summer Games, but arrived later to participate in a pubic run of the Olympic marathon course.
Adams said in a statement, “Utah will host a remarkable 2034 Games. We are committed to taking the right course of action, ensuring fair competition while safeguarding the health and well-being of athletes. Our goal is to promote unity by evaluating all perspectives and collaborating to find the most effective solution.”