Swim England supports UKAD's Clean Sport Week 2025

Swim England is committed to clean sport and will be supporting UK Anti-Doping’s (UKAD’s) Clean Sport Week campaign from 19 – 23 May.

Clean Sport Week is UKAD’s national awareness campaign championing clean sport, education and anti-doping initiatives with sports across the UK.

This year’s Clean Sport Week theme is ‘The Next Generation’. To ensure the future of aquatics is clean it’s vital that young people are supported and educated on anti-doping to help inspire them to become proud clean athletes.

UKAD has teamed up with; TASS (Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme), SportsAid, and DiSE (Diploma in Sporting Excellence) to discuss how the sporting community, family, friends, and those working with young people, can protect and empower young athletes.

As part of Clean Sport Week, the current and next generation of aquatic athletes have been sharing their experiences with UKAD.

Four time British champion, Amelie Blocksidge, sat down with 2024 Swim England Hall of Fame inductee and UKAD athlete commission member, Alice Dearing, to discuss Clean Sport Week and how the next generation can embrace clean sport.

Speaking in the video, which you can watch on UKAD’s YouTube channel, 16-year-old Blocksidge said: “I think that the next generation should embrace the education that comes with clean sport.

“There’s a lot of zoom calls that go into it and I feel that it’s really important to just pay attention because doping shouldn’t be the answer to being good in sport. There’s always better options and other routes to get improve.”

‘Creating a happy and healthy next generation of sporting stars’

Commenting on the start of the week UKAD’s Chief Executive Jane Rumble said: “I am delighted to see UKAD launching its annual Clean Sport Week, with a vital next generation focus.

“It has been extremely positive to see athletes, support personnel, partners in education, Sports Councils, National Governing Bodies, and others backing this year’s initiative already.

“To ensure a bright and clean sporting future in the UK, it’s key that we inform and educate the next generation of athletes on all anti-doping matters. Our survey findings show that adults and young people do care and are passionate about clean sport, giving us great confidence.

“We want to use this week to celebrate clean sport, advocate for fair play and highlight the huge risks and implications that doping in sport can have. We do already see many of the athletes, coaches and other support personnel that we work with sharing these messages regularly, which is fantastic. Together, with the sporting community, we can protect clean sport and create a happy and healthy next generation of sporting stars.”

A culture of clean sport is essential for the long-term health and wellbeing of athletes. Whether you’re an athlete, parent, club or anyone involved in aquatics or any sport, be sure to get involved in Clean Sport Week.

Swim England encourages anyone in aquatics that would like to learn more about anti-doping to sign up to UKAD’s Clean Sport Hub where there are free education courses for athletes, students, coaches and practitioners. To find out more about UKAD’s Clean Sport Week initiative click here as well as following @ukantidoping on social media.