WADA (The World Anti-Doping Agency) has responded to suggestions that Donald Trump and other US government officials could be banned from the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.LA will play host to the Olympics for the third time in the city’s history, with around 15 million visitors expected to attend 844 ticketed events across 50 venues.A new of sports have been confirmed to return, including softball and baseball, cricket and lacrosse, while flag football, a variant of American football, and squash will debut after being added by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) for the first time.However, uncertainty emerged about the Games after a report from the Associated Press said that the government body were considering changing rules which could ban President Trump and those involved in his government from attending.
WADA are the global regulator for anti-doping in sport, having been set up back in 1999. Their task is to stop the use of banned performance-enhancing drugs in all of sport, including the Olympics.On Tuesday, the agency’s executive committee are slated to meet and AP reported that part of the agenda would be around the US government’s refusal to pay yearly dues and that there is a proposal to punish in the form of a ban from major sporting events – potentially even applying to the World Cup.However, the governing body proceeded to issue a statement where they denied that such a ban would be possible as they branded the AP article “entirely misleading”.On the WADA website, the statement on Friday read: “The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) notes today’s Associated Press (AP) article alleging that WADA might ban United States government officials from the LA 2028 Summer Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup over unpaid dues.