The Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui and High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) have teamed up with Paris 2024 Olympic double gold medallist Alicia Hoskin to advocate for responsible supplement use in a new educational video for athletes and their support teams. 

The video features the canoe sprint champion reflecting on her nutrition journey as her career progressed from promising young athlete to Olympic gold medallist. 

“I knew that a lot of the things that I needed as a young athlete could come from food and fuelling my body really well and even making sure that I'm getting the timing and frequency of those really good meals right,” she explains. 

“As I've got into more high performance and starting to compete at an Olympic level, that's when I've started to look into supplements.” 

But supplement use is a risk for athletes, as Alicia explains. 

“There's a few things that can make supplements risky,” she says. 

“One is the cross contamination of products that are made in the same factories as the ones we're taking. The other is things not being on the label that have actually made their way into our supplements.”  

There have been multiple cases worldwide of athletes testing positive for banned substances after unknowingly consuming contaminated supplements. The risk of contamination is one reason why neither the Commission nor the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) approve any supplement products or their use. 

But, for athletes who need to use supplements as part of a managed nutrition plan, there are ways to mitigate the risk. Alicia’s approach is to make sure that any supplements she does use have been batch tested. 

“I won't go anywhere near something that is not batch tested and doesn't have a specific batch number on it,” she explains. 

However, even batch testing can’t guarantee that a product is free from banned substances. It reduces the risk but doesn’t remove it entirely. 

“We know that our drug testing can pick up even the smallest little thing: the equivalent of a teaspoon in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.”  

This means that even a hint of contamination will show up in a sample. 

As Alicia reiterates: “At the end of the day, it's 100% the athlete’s responsibility on the supplements they decide to take, so make sure you do your research and know what you're putting into your body.” 

Ultimately, athletes need to understand the risks of supplement use so they can take steps to manage those risks. It’s all part of upholding clean, safe and fair sport. 

HPSNZ Head of Performance Nutrition Christel Dunshea-Mooij and her team work directly with many of the country’s elite athletes on their nutrition programmes. 

“Our approach is food first, but not always food only, as supplements can be a useful adjunct to an athlete’s nutrition programme in certain circumstances,” Christel says.  

“A key part of our role in this area is education to ensure athletes are aware of the risks and have the tools to make safe decisions for themselves.” 

Commission CE Rebecca Rolls supports education as a key tool to help athletes make informed supplement decisions. 

“We’re here to empower athletes and support teams to understand the risk of supplement use and to make informed decisions. Although no supplement is risk-free, there are ways to manage and mitigate those risks. Athletes and support teams can head to our website to learn more through anti-doping online modules and the dedicated Supplement Decision-Making Guide.” 

Neither the Commission nor WADA approve any supplement product or its use. If you or an athlete you work with is considering using a supplement, this guide can help you make an informed decision: Supplement decisions - a guide