UK Sport Unveils Major Anti-doping Push

Elite sport funding body UK Sport has launched a long-term strategy that seeks
to influence attitudes and opinions towards drug-free sport among the sporting
community.

The ‘Prevention of Doping in Sport’ programme will see increased anti-doping
education and information targeted towards coaches, GPs and schools, as well as
athletes.

The programme will continue successful initiatives already underway, and
identifying new areas of focus to ensure that all relevant organisations and
individuals can play their part and understand the responsibilities they have in
helping athletes to compete drug-free.

The initiative focuses on three core areas of prevention – Education and
Information; Science and Information; and Research – under an overall vision
that “the British sporting community preserve the integrity and spirit of sport
in the UK by fostering a generation of athletes that have the personal belief
that prohibited substances or methods are not acceptable or needed in order to
succeed in sport”.

Over 30 wide-ranging initiatives to be pursued from 2007-2011 are listed,
with the provision of information and education to athletes to help safeguard
them against doping in sport at its core.

Beyond that, UK Sport has announced plans for anti-doping education for
coaches of high performance and developing athletes. This will include education
being integrated into the UK Coaching Certificate course, and Continued
Professional Development Courses being made available through the High
Performance Coaching Seminars.

GPs will also be targeted through presentations at major medical conferences
and articles in relevant journals and magazines to ensure they are fully
informed on advising athletes on what substances and methods they can and can’t
use, and on meeting their responsibilities with regards to Therapeutic Use
Exemptions (TUEs).

Furthermore, UK Sport has recognised the role that schools can play in
shaping the attitudes and values of young people and will work with a range of
partners to deliver key messages on anti-doping in sport into school programmes.