UK Sport urged to lift gag on 2012 Olympians over secret drink
MPS want UK Sport to stop gagging Great Britain’s 2012 Olympians from talking about being given a secretive performance-boosting drink in the build-up to the Games that left some of them feeling sick.
It emerged over the weekend that British medal hopefuls had been enrolled in a study in which they were fed “ketones”, a synthetic version of a naturally occurring body acid, developed to help make US special forces personnel more resilient behind enemy lines.
Those who did so were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements and waivers absolving UK Sport, the taxpayer-funded agency that oversaw the experiment, from responsibility for any side-effects from the drink or if the World Anti-doping Agency was later to deem it illegal.
The revelation has left UK Sport accused of failing in its duty of care to athletes competing at London 2012 and MPS now want it to release them from their NDAS so they are able to come forward.
Alison Mcgovern, the shadow sports minister, said: “Athletes should have the right to speak out about their experiences and voice any concerns about this experiment undertaken under the leadership of UK Sport.”
Julian Knight, the chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, said: “The practice of signing athletes up to lifetime NDAS is questionable and I’d ask, if everything is above board, why has this overbearing provision been put in place?”
The use of legal performance boosters was at the centre of the scandal to engulf Mo Farah’s disgraced former coach, Alberto Salazar, who was banned for four years in October for doping offences. Salazar denies any wrongdoing and has lodged an appeal against his ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
UK Sport did not respond to requests for comment last night, but said in a previous statement that its ketones project had received “independent ethical approval”.
It added: “Any research funded by UK Sport investment includes a participant-consent form. Athletes are not put under pressure from UK Sport to take part in any research project or to provide their consent, and may withdraw at any time.
“UK Sport is fully committed to developing a high-performance culture – but UK Sport will never seek to win medals at any cost. UK Sport resolutely refutes any accusation that Olympians were used as ‘guinea pigs’, and finds this allegation both misleading and offensive.”