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Your part in clean sport
All athletes have a responsibility to keep sport clean. Your role involves:
The UK’s Role in Clean Sport
UK Anti-Doping is the body responsible for clean sport in the UK. It makes sure that sports have anti-doping rules in place to protect the right of athletes to participate in clean sport. You can find out more in the ‘What we do’ section of the website.
The Role of Clean Sport on a Global Scale
UK Anti-Doping is a National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO). NADOs are responsible for many things including testing athletes in- and out-of-competition. NADOs also educate and test athletes from other countries who are competing in the UK. Most countries have a NADO which undertakes similar functions to UK Anti-Doping.
The World Anti-Doping Code
The World Anti-Doping Code is the global set of anti-doping rules that are adopted by sports in many countries. The Code is governed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an independent organisation that governs anti-doping globally. The Code is essential to protect you as an athlete. Its purpose is to ensure that athletes benefit from the same anti-doping protocols and protections, whatever their nationality or sport, and wherever they are competing. The ultimate goal is safe and fair competition worldwide. In January 2015 a revised Code with some new rules came into force. You can read about the changes by downloading the 2015 Code Athlete Factsheet
The most important thing to remember is that the 2015 Code is built on the principle of ‘Strict Liability’. It is always the individual athlete who is solely responsible for any banned substance they use, attempt to use, or is found in their system, regardless of how it got there or whether there was an intention to cheat or not.