America Knows Best? Examining U.S. extraterritorialism through the Rodchenkov Act of 2019

Description

Signed into law on December 4th, 2020, the Rodchenkov Act made it unlawful to knowingly influence a major international sport competition by use of a prohibited substance or method (21 USC. 2401). The Act’s passage emerged from previous legislative extraterritorial pushes by the U.S. in international sports (Slattery, 2018). Notably, the Act used rhetoric on doping and clean sport to justify U.S. legislative authority in international spaces. This presentation, therefore, examines how the Rodchenkov Act can be used to measure the (over)reach of American extraterritorial jurisdiction in international affairs. After the 2021 Olympics, U.S. Congress quietly introduced two bills to strengthen the Act (H.R.4906 & S.2632). Both cited domestic legislative precedent from the 1970s, including the RICO Act, to underscore the perceived necessity for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to prioritize international enforcement. To contextualise these actions, I relied primarily upon Congressional archives from the last twenty years, with domestic and international newspapers highlighting the global response. An increasingly poignant aspect revealed by the research is the historic bipartisan support such bills have received in the oft-divided chambers of the US federal legislative assembly. The uncharacteristic support such proposals have received provides telling insight into the desire of the Unted States to operate as a lone sherif in international affairs. Therefore, understanding the history behind the Rodchenkov Act, and its predecessors, is crucial to parsing out the United States’ contradictory approach to multi-lateral cooperation through international sport.

Period	16 May 2025
Event title	Political Studies Association Sport and Politics Conference
Event type	Conference
Location	London, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International