Memorandum submitted by the British Athletes
Commission (BAC)
The BAC represents international athletes from
Olympic, Paralympic and World Class sports.
1. DOPING
British athletes call for a strong stance to
be taken on Doping in the UK. (See Athlete's Report from Sydney).
BAC feel it vitally important for the future
of fair sport that Britain has a strong, clear and robust process
and that Britain is seen as one of the leading nations in the
fight against performance enhancing drugs.
BAC supports the concept of standardising the
process across sports through the WADA code.
BAC have worked closely with the UK Sport DF
directorate on both policy and education matters, but feel improvements
are needed in:
— the education of athletes;
— the demand for medical standards
on labelling and production of sports supplements; and
— better information on foreign medication
for athletes when abroad, including clearer labelling of over
the counter medications.
2. ROLE MODELS
Athletes spend a considerable time acting as
role models throughout Britain to a wide spectrum of society.
These public appearances make up both voluntary
and paid work for athletes; almost all athletes will make numerous
appearances throughout their careers.
BAC estimates athletes make the largest numbers
of visits direct to schools and sports clubs, either by personal
arrangement or via their ngbs.
BAC would like to see:
— more training for athletes that wish
to develop their public speaking and appearance skills (perhaps
through ACE/PL);
— more support for athletes doing personally
arranged visits to schools;
— the number of visits by Sporting
Champions put into perspective; and
— an understanding of the time difficulties
athletes face in training, recovering from training and travelling
overseas.
BAC strongly recommends that any visits to schools
are not made a condition of funding for World Class Athletes.
BAC feels that athletes, especially recently
retired athletes, can play a greater role in assisting in the
development of life skills and health awareness in schools, and
hope to work closely with the relevant agencies to assist this.
15 March 2004
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