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PLAYER CARE
UK SPORT DENY RISKING ATHLETES’ WELFARE UK Sport has strongly denied the allegations put towards them by the Mail on Sunday who claim that British Olympians had been provided with a “novel nutritional intervention” ahead of the successful London Olympic Games in 2012. ISSUE TWELVE ★ SEPTEMBER 2020
An investigation by UK national newspaper, the Mail on Sunday, found that British athletes had been given an experimental substance via an energy drink known as DeltaG, without understanding whether the drink was within the anti-doping rules, cleared by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and if the drink could cause any side effects for the athletes taking them.
A statement from UK Sport reads, “UK Sport does not fund research projects aimed at giving our national teams a performance advantage at the expense of athlete welfare. “As the nation’s high-performance sports agency, UK Sport invests in expert institutes who deliver research and innovation projects to support the success of our national sports teams. “These projects range from designing world-class technical equipment for our athletes, to supporting athlete health and performance. “These research and innovation projects are conducted in line with the highest ethical standards, within the rules of international sport and are assessed by an expert independent Research Advisory Group.
“Consultation takes place with UK AntiDoping and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) wherever necessary to ensure projects comply with international antidoping regulations.” Documents that have been obtained by the Mail on Sunday found that 91 British athletes from eight Olympic sports were given the drink before the Olympic Games in 2012. The substance taken is a synthetic version of the body acid called ketones which are naturally formed in humans. It was developed by Oxford University scientists and manipulated into a drink, linked with the Ketone Ester project, which was funded by UK Sport from 2011 before becoming commercially available in 2018. UK Sport added that “The Ketone Ester project received independent ethical approval from the Research Advisory Group in January 2012. “Additionally, UK Anti-Doping confirmed in writing, after seeking clarification from the World Anti-Doping Agency, that WADA had ‘no reason to consider such substances as banned under the 2011 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods’. “By its very nature, any performance innovation project is at the cutting edge of science and emerging technology, as any advantage for Great Britain is only
