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Tension Mounts Between USOC, USADA Over Possible Russia Sanctions, LA 2024 Bid

The "competing agendas" of the USADA and the USOC have "put some of the most powerful sports executives in the world in conflict as the Olympic Committee enters the final months of its effort" to bring the Games back to the U.S. for the first time since '02, according to a front-page piece by Rebecca Ruiz of the N.Y. TIMES. USADA execs are "agitating for a forceful response to Russia’s state-run doping program, lobbying international sports officials for more aggressive sanctions and for an overhaul of the global regulatory system." But USOC execs have a "different agenda" focused on lobbying the same officials to award the '24 Games to L.A., a "likely financial boon for the committee, and have pressured Congress not to amplify the antidoping concerns." Vitaly Smirnov, a Russian member of the IOC, said, "Fighting with an organization responsible for giving future Olympic Games -- it’s a big mistake." He added USADA CEO Travis Tygart is "doing a very counterproductive job" with respect to the L.A. bid. USOC officials and "other powerful interests involved with the bid have expressed concern to members of Congress that the clean-sports crusade could alienate some of the global officials who will make the decision." USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said that he "thought a congressional hearing would be 'more productive' after international sports officials had signaled how they planned to address the scandal." Blackmun: "Travis’s style, I would be lying if I told you it wasn’t having an impact. At the end of the day, he’s doing his job, and he’s doing it really well. Would we like him to be a little bit more of a silver-tongued devil? Yes, we would.” Tygart responded by saying, "It’s not unusual when you’re trying to do the right thing that there are attempts to pressure you to back off these fundamental values" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/28). 

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