Anti-doping scheme boosts athletes

Mar 17 2013

Scottish athletes will be better prepared than ever ahead of the Commonwealth Games thanks to the introduction of a new anti-doping scheme, according to the national agency for sport.

Mike Whittingham, director of high performance at the sportscotland institute of sport, said athletes will benefit from increased education about anti-doping policies.

For the first time, UK Anti-Doping is working in partnership with sportscotland, Sport Northern Ireland, and Sport Wales to protect clean athletes in the run up Glasgow.

Mr Whittingham said: "sportscotland is committed to ensuring Scottish athletes and team personnel have access to a system of world-class preparation and support.

"Our partnership with UK Anti-Doping will ensure we meet our shared objectives of preparing orld-class teams at the Glasgow, Sochi, and Rio Games.

"It is vital that Scottish governing bodies utilise this free resource and work with us to make sure every athlete has the required knowledge and skills to avoid risk.

"Fundamentally, our investment will help us secure a clean Games in Glasgow, Sochi, and Rio."

The partnership will see an extension to the existing National Trainer network, put in place in November 2011 to deliver the pre-Games education programmes for Team GB and ParalympicsGB heading to the London 2012 Games, with each of the home countries agreeing to recruit their own trainers to educate athletes and support staff.

Amanda Batt, UK Anti-Doping education manager, said: "It has been a pleasure to train and develop National Trainers from each of the home countries, allowing them to support the clean sport agenda. Our collective aim is to deliver clean teams and continue to protect the integrity of sport in the UK."

Glasgow 2014 will be the 20th Commonwealth Games and will be held from July 23 to August 3.