Im Juli 2020 berichtete die britische Zeitung Mail on Sunday auf Basis von Dokumenten des Verteidigungsministeriums über ein Geheimprojekt des nationalen Spitzensportverbandes UK Sport, wonach mit Steuergeldern ein noch in der ersten Testphase sich befindender Energie-Drink mit Keton-Estern an 91 britischen Elitesportlern in acht olympischen Disziplinen zu den OS 2012 in London getestet wurde.
dailymail.co.uk: REVEALED: British London 2012 Olympians were used as guinea pigs for Special Forces 'wonder drug' but 40 per cent of those who used the supplement ended up with side-effects... including vomiting!, 11.7.2020
Es handelte sich um eine synthetische Form der im Körper natürlich vorkommenden Ketone. Entwickelt wurde dies an der Universität Oxford mit Unterstützung von 10 Mio Dollar, die das US-Verteidigungsministerium zur Verfügung stellte, mit der Hoffnung, die Substanz könnte Soldaten hinter feindlichen Linien länger durchhalten lassen.
UK Sport verteidigte das Projekt und bestand darauf, es seien höchste ethische Standards eingehalten würden und es sei niemals Absicht gewesen, den Sportlern einen Vorteil vor anderen zu verschaffen.
UK Sport: UK Sport statement on Ketone Ester research and innovation project
By its very nature, any performance innovation project is at the cutting edge of science and emerging technology, as any advantage for Great Britain is only possible before it is widely available – as was the case for the ketone ester which became commercially available in 2018.
Any research project funded by UK Sport investment includes a participant consent form to ensure it operates with full transparency with regards to any risks to participants, and also for the purpose of full disclosure. Participating athletes agree they have been provided with full details of the study and have had the opportunity to raise and discuss questions with a named researcher. Athletes are not put under pressure from UK Sport to take part in any research project or to provide their consent, and may withdraw at any time.
Decisions which lie at the heart of the high performance system need to be made with absolute transparency, are respectful and the impact of these decisions understood and carefully managed. UK Sport is fully committed to developing a high performance culture that is truly inspirational and one that will set us apart from our global competitors – but UK Sport will never seek to win medals at any cost.
UK Sport resolutely refutes any accusation that Olympians were used as ‘guinea pigs’, and finds this allegation both misleading and offensive.
Die beteiligten Sportler*innen mussten eine Erklärung unterzeichnen, zu schweigen. Etliche litten unter Nebenwirkungen und brachen die Einnahme ab. Es gab zudem einige Gerüchte.
One key document obtained by The Mail on Sunday was the confidential UK Sport memo from October 2011, produced for the attention only of UK Sport board members and directors, which was, in effect, a ‘road map’ of how UK Sport intended to exploit DeltaG for Team GB’s exclusive benefit.
This 14-page document detailed how UK Sport’s Research & Innovation team first noticed an article in a 2007 scientific journal about DeltaG, then being developed by the US military and being tested in animals ‘for physical and cognitive endurance performance’.
UK Sport contacted the US military, who in turn pointed UK Sport to Oxford University, whom UK Sport paid to conduct trials of the substance in rowers and cyclists. Invoices show UK Sport paid Oxford’s research team £4,000 in early 2011, for a trial involving rugby players at Bath University; and then £183,600 later in 2011 for the trials on the rowers and cyclists; and then £42,115 in early 2013 as a further ‘research grant’ for DeltaG studies on sportspeople.
Die offizielle Bezeichng der Studie lautete ‘The effects of acute supplementation with a ketone ester on training and competition performance in Olympic sports: a repeated measures case study series’.
sportsintegrityinitiative.com: UK Sport gave ketone esters to London 2012 medal hopefuls, 13.7.2020
Konsequenzen hatten die Versuche für die Beteiligten keine. Die erste Aufregung verebbte schnell. 2018 kamen die synthetischen Ketone-Ester auf den Markt und sind frei erhältlich. Sie waren da aber längst im Sport verbreitet, auch im Radsport, ihre Leistung steigernde Wirkung scheint gegeben (cyclingweekly.com: 13.9.2018).
