Professional athletes happily admit there is a genuine fear factor about being drug tested, but Australian Sport Anti-Doping Authority boss David Sharpe wants that to change.
One way the anti-doping agency is hoping to do that is by entrusting its message with current athletes for the first time.
Seventeen athletes from swimming, track and field, hockey, gymnastics and water polo are undergoing training which will allow them to educate fellow competitors about anti-doping.
It is a radical revamp for ASADA, but Sharpe said it needed to happen as athletes will relate better to their contemporaries rather than a sports science expert.
"When you hear that athletes are scared that anti-doping have arrived at an event, we actually want it to be a badge of honour," he said.
"We want athletes to say 'I'm proud to have been tested because I'm clean'.
"We're not here to police, we're here to work with athletes and be able to get a positive message out."
Presentations won't just be held with professional athletes, with Sharpe saying there has to be a focus on grassroots sports.
"Reaching down to the amateur sports and children in schools is critical," he said.
"If we don't get to younger people and embed anti-doping in their minds at an early age, there becomes a gap at the elite level."
Australian water polo star Bronwen Knox says the shake-up will benefit athletes and authorities.
"We can actually talk from our experience because I've been tested more times than I can count," the three-time Olympian said.
"The presentations from years ago we're just sitting there being lectured so it's about making it more interactive."
ASADA will soon come under the new national agency, Sport Integrity Australia, which was unveiled by the government this week.
Share
