George is part of the UK Sport World Class Lottery Funded British Paratriathlon squad and represented ParalympicsGB at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
It's been a busy few weeks for George, with university exams slotting in between his gold medal performance at the Yokohama ITU World Paratriathlon Series event and final preparations for the ITU Paratriathlon World Cup at Eton Dorney on 28 May. The Rio 2016 Paralympian however has found time to join the #CleanSportWeek conversation and share an athletes perspective on clean sport.
Why do you think Clean Sport matters?
"Clean sport is important to all sport, it makes sport as fair as it can be and ensures that despite differences in talent, physiology etc everyone is on a level playing field. ALSO in a lot of cases it is actually more for the care of the athlete so they are not putting possibly harmful products into their body."
As an elite athlete what have been your experiences of education in relation to clean sport?
"I've had very good education around clean sport through many UKAD talks, being a part of the PIP (Paralympic Inspiration Programme) also we were taught a lot around the procedures and importance of UKAD/Clean Sport."
Can you talk us through the process of testing from an athletes perspective? (Does it differ in and out of competition)
"Out of competition testing usually comes as an early/late knock at the door from UKAD or even UKAD turning up to a training session. Whereas in competition they will come and find you once finished. Other than that, both procedures are very similar.
They talk you through the process every time and let you know what to do, how to randomly select pots/bottles/materials for the testing process. In both circumstances then when ready you are required to provide a urine sample (sometimes they can take blood samples too) where they can see no artificial instruments are being used to provide the urine sample."
What does it mean to be part of the domestic training pool in relation to anti-doping control? Does this differ from the ‘whereabouts’ system and what support do you receive?
"There is support from everyone around the process, I can also contact UKAD directly if I have any queries, the only difference between the domestic training pool and whereabouts is that on whereabouts you have to log an hour a day that you can be tested outside training. If you aren't there for that hour, that's when you get a strike for a missed test. Other than that, there whereabouts system is exactly the same, same website, same use, same people etc."
What would your advice be to any aspiring athlete about staying informed on what they put in their body?
"ALWAYS check 'globaldro' and 'informed sport’ for anything putting into your body, also check for the informed sport logo. Personally, I ONLY use supplements or medication when I can't already get that thing from my diet alone; so my supplement list is relatively very small."
Further Clean Sport Information
If you want to learn more about clean sport head to our dedicated website section at www.britishtriathlon.org/cleansport
