Great Britain delegation during the opening ceremony at the London 2012 Olympic Games, July 27, 2012. /VCG
UK Sport has denied any wrongdoing after claims that the government agency gave British Olympians an energy-boosting drink to test in a bid to enhance their performance at the 2012 London Games.
The Mail on Sunday reported public money was used to provide a select band of athletes with an energy drink called DeltaG, claiming there were no guarantees the product did not cause side-effects, nor was it certain to be cleared by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
It is said that the substance, a synthetic version of a naturally occurring body acid called ketones, had been developed for US Special Forces.
World Conference of Doping in Sport 2019, organised by World Anti-Doping Agency, is held in Katowice, Poland, November 5, 2019. /VCG
UK Sport, which funds Olympic and Paralympic sport in Britain, said it had consulted with both WADA and UK Anti-Doping before using the product to make sure it complied with guidelines and that the health of athletes would not be put on the line for the sake of an improved medal haul.
"UK Sport does not fund research projects aimed at giving our national teams a performance advantage at the expense of athlete welfare," UK Sport said in a statement.
"It declares that the well-being of the human subject should take precedence over the interests of science and society. Ketone had been tested since 2008, 3 years before the UK Sport funded research project," the statement explained in detail.
UK Sport did not say why the use of drink was not previously disclosed. The Mail on Sunday said waivers and non-disclosure forms had to be signed by those on trial.
(With input from agencies)