Running Clean: Tiffany Porter speaks

Stuart Weir wrote this piece after asking Tiffany Porter how she insured that she was running clean. It is a very interesting piece on an important subject.

Tiffany Porter is a pharmacist, photo courtesy of Tiffany Porter

Tiffany Porter, photo by British Athletics

Running clean

From time to time one hears of an athlete failing a test and being banned for having used a banned substance. Athletes protest their innocence and ultimately only they know the truth. The situation has bothered me and left me wondering if an athlete has been the victim of something beyond their control or if a guilty athlete is protesting.

Dr. Tiffany Porter seemed an excellent person to explain what was going on. As well as having competed at the elite level for over 10 years, she is a qualified practicing pharmacist. How did she protect herself from inadvertently taking a banned substance?

“That is an excellent question and an important question. I’m a huge proponent of knowing what resources you have and utilizing those resources. We have the website www.globaldro.com, where you can literally type in all the information and figure out if a particular medication or substance is banned or if it is safe. So that is the first thing that every athlete needs to know. I think there are athletes who’ve heard about it but maybe don’t use it as frequently as they need to because if they did, it would stop people from claiming the whole ignorance factor. Then partnering with supplement brands and companies that understand the requirements athletes have. For example, often these companies partner with WADA to fall under certain regulations to be considered safe for athletes to take. When athletes first start competing and first get into the testing pools, they are told that they are responsible for what goes into their bodies. And that is your responsibility, and it’s not something you can palm off to someone else because at the end of the day – God forbid that something happens – who is going to take the fall? So using the resources and being very, very discerning about what you put in your body and operating with integrity and not trying to cut corners – I think that is very important”.