UKAD Athlete Commission member Dan Bethell shares advice for Next Generation as University of Bath supports Clean Sport Week
Double Paralympic medallist Dan Bethell says he is excited to share his knowledge and passion for clean sport with the next generation of sports stars after being appointed to the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) Athlete Commission.
The para-badminton multi-medallist, who trains at the University of Bath, is one of seven new members of the now 12-strong commission – which also includes recently-retired Olympic skeleton medallist Laura Deas – who ensure that athletes are placed at the heart of UKAD’s policies and practices.
“It’s a role I was extremely excited to apply for and get,” said Bethell, who won men’s SL3 singles silver at both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. “Clean sport is something I’m extremely passionate about. It is vital because it’s all about fair competition – you want sport to reflect an athlete’s ability, their talent and their hard work.
“I really do think that the best people to be championing anti-doping are athletes. Unless you’ve gone through the anti-doping process, gone through drug tests, had to look up ingredients on Global DRO and Informed Sport, you don’t fully appreciate the complexity. It’s important that athletes give back and use their voice to have a say for the future generations.”
Empowering and educating young people on anti-doping is the theme of this year’s Clean Sport Week, which runs from today (Monday 19th) to Friday 23rd May. The University of Bath, which holds UKAD Clean Sport Elite Accreditation, is supporting the event through messaging and activities targeted at the U18 athletes who train at Team Bath – with the Futures, Tribe, Netball and Tennis programmes – and their parents.
A school visit is also taking place at the Team Bath Sports Training Village, bringing to life the UKAD ‘100% me’ values of passion, respect, integrity, determination and enjoyment – PRIDE.
Bethell is delighted that the focus is on The Next Generation and shared his own words of advice: “Ask questions! There are going to be senior athletes who have probably gone through a lot of experiences with anti-doping. They are the fountain of knowledge, the ones who have had good experiences and bad experiences.
“It can be quite a complicated thing knowing all the different rules and regulations, how testing works, where to look up things you’re taking to make sure that they’re legal and not banned, so the most important thing is to ask questions.
“On the Athlete Commission we want to champion knowledge because to protect clean sport, the most important thing is that athletes are informed. So, to the next generation, I would just encourage you to get out there, do your research, ask questions, and then I’m sure you will have long, healthy and clean careers.”
Find out more about Clean Sport Week by visiting https://www.ukad.org.uk/clean-sport-week and read the University of Bath’s commitment to clean sport at teambath.com/clean-sport.
