NEW YORK: The leader of the US Olympic Committee says the latest anti-doping headlines make it “increasingly difficult to defend the current system.”
In a wide-ranging interview Friday with The Associated Press, USOC CEO Scott Blackmun spoke about America’s preparation for the Rio de Janeiro Games — plans being jarred by ongoing concerns about the Zika virus, along with a growing feeling among US athletes that not everybody will be on a level playing field when the Olympics start in August.
In his first comments on the anti-doping crisis, Blackmun said “it is increasingly difficult to defend the current system following a breakdown of this magnitude.”
“If the recently reported allegations prove to be true, we need to admit that the system is flawed,” he said. “We need to fix it, and we need to find a way to assure the athletes in Rio that they are competing on a fair and level playing field.”
Last week, The New York Times published a story detailing former Moscow lab director Grigory Rodchenkov’s elaborate plans to ensure drug-using Russian athletes would not test positive at the Sochi Olympics by replacing their dirty urine samples with clean ones previously collected. The World Anti-Doping Agency has appointed a commission to look into the allegations.
A different commission released a report last year detailing a state-sponsored doping system inside Russia used to benefit its track team. That report led to the suspension of the team along with the country’s anti-doping agency and the Moscow anti-doping lab that Rodchenkov headed. The track team’s fate for Rio will be decided next month by the sport’s governing body, the IAAF.
At a WADA meeting last week, officials reported that because the Russian anti-doping agency was taken over by independent managers, testing in the country has decreased by more than two-thirds, with doping-control agents being harassed in some cities and the Russian government often balking at paying bills to run the revamped agency.
The cascade of reports has led athletes and other anti-doping authorities to call on WADA and the International Olympic Committee to act more decisively to clean up an Olympic movement that, in many ways, looks as drug-addled as ever.
With the Olympics less than three months away, and already swamped by a steady flow of e-mails from athletes and others, Blackmun decided to speak out, as well.
“As a global sporting community, we need to embrace the opportunity to shine a light on the bad actors who are responsible for the wrongdoing and corruption,” he said. “We are at a defining moment for international sport. It is time for strong leadership and decisive action. Doping is a problem all around the world, not just in Russia.”
Among those weighing in after reading Blackmun’s comments was Sarah Konrad, an Olympic biathlete and cross-country skier who is chair of the USOC athletes’ advisory council.
“Well done, Scott Blackmun!” Konrad said in an e-mail to AP. “It is great to know that we, as US athletes, have the support of our leadership.”
Blackmun also addressed several other Olympic issues affecting the US:
The USOC is supporting moves by individual sports to adjust plans because of Zika-related concerns. On Thursday, the AP reported the US swim team has moved a pre-Olympic training camp out of Puerto Rico because of Zika.
But Blackmun said scientists’ calls to cancel the Olympics “is an overreaction to a problem that is, admittedly, serious. Based on information we currently have, none of the health authorities are calling for Games to be canceled.”
The Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Olympics is on track, he said. Along with Paris, Los Angeles looks like a front-runner in a four-city contest that also includes Rome and Budapest. While encouraged about the overall plan, Blackmun conceded “the challenge with any competition like this is, it’s a campaign, and you never really know what people are thinking.”
As for the upcoming Olympics, he said the USOC’s goal is “to make sure we improve on our performance from Games to Games.”
The US won 103 medals in London, which led the world but was still a decrease from the 110 it took at the Beijing Games.
“We would like to have the peace of mind at the end of the game that we did everything we could for every American who had a chance to win the medals,” Blackmun said.
USOC leader: Flawed anti-doping system needs attention
USOC leader: Flawed anti-doping system needs attention
How Saudi football scored in the runup to 2026 FIFA World Cup
- Saudi Pro League asserted global dominance with star-studded lineups and record-breaking performances from Asia’s elite top-tier clubs
- Domestic leagues reached new heights, yet the national team faces mounting pressure ahead of a high-stakes global tournament
DUBAI: FIFA President Gianni Infantino seemed full of optimism on Dec. 21 when he said Saudi Arabia had become a major hub on the global football stage and that the Saudi Pro League was on track to become one of the top three in the world.
With players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and a nation crazy about the great game, this endorsement perhaps comes as little surprise.
Infantino also predicted a successful World Cup in 2034 when the tournament will be hosted by Saudi Arabia. With infrastructure being built and upgraded, the Expo 2030 venue under construction, and reforms underway, the World Cup seems destined to be a success.
The FIFA boss also praised the progress made not only at the senior national team level and across youth categories, but also in the women’s game, thanks to the backing of football authorities in recent years.
While this paints a positive picture of the game in the Kingdom, it follows the national team’s 1-0 loss to Jordan in the semi-finals of the 2025 Arab Cup. Many supporters will need far more convincing of the team’s prospects going into the New Year.
Although the return of Herve Renard as coach of the Green Falcons following Roberto Mancini’s disappointing stint has resulted in a second consecutive World Cup qualification (and seventh overall), failure to win the Arab Cup in Qatar and some less than inspiring performances means the jury is still out on the Frenchman.
At the 2026 World Cup, Saudi Arabia will face Uruguay, European champions Spain, and Cape Verde in their three Group H matches, taking place in Miami, Atlanta, and Houston respectively.
Saudi fans sharing Infantino’s positive outlook will hope Renard’s men can emulate the historic win over Argentina on that memorable night at Lusail Stadium in 2022. But that is far easier said than done, and many remain unconvinced.
For a start, just as Poland and Mexico were alerted to Saudi Arabia’s potential following that humbling of Lionel Messi and co in Qatar, their opponents in the US will likewise be on their guard this time around.
Worryingly for Saudi fans, the team has rarely, if at all, hit the same highs since Saleh Al-Shehri’s equalizer and Salem Al-Dawsari’s stunning strike brought about arguably the most famous win in the Green Falcons’ history.
The 2023 AFC Asian Cup, played in early 2024 and only months after Mancini’s arrival, saw Saudi Arabia eliminated by South Korea on penalties in the round of 16.
World Cup qualification was eventually secured but not before the team needed to negotiate a fourth round group that included Iraq and Indonesia in October.
The semi-final exit at the Arab Cups prompted rumors — immediately denied by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation — that Renard’s job was under threat. Still, it was hardly a ringing endorsement of the way things had turned out on his second stint as national team coach.
Outspoken Saudi-based football pundit Battal Algoos has been scathing in his criticism of Renard and his employers, and in particular of the excuses for the Arab Cup disappointment.
“It seems to be a contagion that has affected the Saudi camp,” he said on the football show “Filmarma” on Al Arabiya.
“Everyone justifies (their position) through others’ failures. We brought you to win a championship, not to say ‘those before me didn’t win championships, I’m no worse than them’.
“It seems to be contagious, from (SAFF President) Yasser Al-Misehal to Renard. Or their thinking is one and the same.”
Paul Williams, Australian journalist and founder and presenter of “The Asian Game” podcast, was at Lusail Stadium the day Saudi Arabia beat the eventual world champions, but believes urgent fixes are needed by Renard this time round.
“There are a multitude of areas that Saudi Arabia need to improve,” he told Arab News. “The obvious is in the final third, where there are still issues finding a reliable avenue to goal, an issue that blighted most of their qualification campaign.
“But they also haven’t yet found a capable replacement in midfield for Salman Al-Faraj, and the entire narrative around Saudi football has changed since before 2022.
“There has always been pressure and expectation from the fans, but that is even more intense now and it feels like that sits heavily on the squad, who are yet to prove they are capable of delivering under that burden of expectation.”
The team’s main concern remains, as it was four years ago in Qatar, its lack of fire power up front and an over-reliance on Al-Dawsari for goals and inspiration. In that sense, at least the 34-year-old talisman can still be relied on.
The Al-Hilal and Saudi Arabia captain provided one of the highlights of 2025 when he was named AFC Player of the Year at the awards ceremony in Riyadh. Al-Dawsari is the only Saudi to have won the Asian award twice.
On an individual level, he enjoyed a stellar 2024-25 season with his club, although Al-Hilal lost out on the Saudi Pro League title to a Benzema-inspired Al-Ittihad.
Al-Dawsari and Al-Hilal came back strongly in the summer to reach the quarter-finals of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the US, along the way drawing 1-1 with Real Madrid in the group stage and brilliantly beating Manchester City 4-3 in the round of 16.
Domestically, however, it is their local rivals that have stolen all the headlines, with their lead at the top of the SPL delighting millions of fans around the world and perhaps in the process reinforcing Infantino’s estimation of the league.
Al-Nassr, now managed by former Al-Hilal boss Jorge Jesus and inspired by the relentlessly enduring Ronaldo, look near invincible at the top of the table, having won all nine matches during this campaign.
The coronation that their fans and the Portuguese legend’s army of global followers had envisioned since he landed in Riyadh three years ago is looking increasingly likely to happen in May. Their end of year report card is glowing 9 out of 10.
Al-Hilal, the self-styled Real Madrid of Asia, can never be counted out however, and the title race in 2026 could be one of the most exciting and close in recent years.
Reigning champions Al-Ittihad, on the other hand, have put up a dismal defense of their title resulting in the sacking of Laurent Blanc, who was succeeded by Sergio Conceicao. Their card will read “must do better.”
Al-Ahli provided further evidence of the SPL’s continental dominance by claiming the 2025 AFC Champions League Elite after beating Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale 2-0 in Jeddah last May.
Elsewhere, Aramco-owned Al-Qadsiah and newly promoted NEOM provide intriguing plot lines as they sit in fifth and eighth respectively, while Al-Taawoun continue to punch above their weight in third.
One of the standout personalities of the season has been US investor Ben Harburg who — through Harburg Group — acquired 100 percent of Al-Kholood in July, making it the first Saudi club wholly owned by a foreign entity. The purchase opens up new possibilities for the SPL.
There is little debate now that the SPL is the most powerful and entertaining in Asia and could in future years, if Infantino is right, become one of the world’s best. The national team’s standing however, until the 2026 World Cup at least, remains up in the air.
