Britain's sporting elite will be forced to account for their whereabouts five times a week under robust new anti-doping rules, UK Sport's Drug-Free Sport head John Scott said yesterday.

Under the "whereabouts system" athletes must say where they will be be for at least one hour five days out of seven or face sanctions for missing a doping test.

"It is the responsibility of the athletes to make sure that information is up to date," Scott said.

"If it isn't up to date it is a missed test - and only in exceptional circumstances will not being available for a test not count as missed."

Scott said the stringent news rules had been devised by UK Sport acting on its own.

"Never before have we had such a powerful set of rules which protect the rights of athletes who compete drug-free, and provide strong sanctions against those who do not," Scott said.

"We have developed a policy and set of model rules which all sports can easily buy into, and which provide all sportsmen and women with anti-doping rules which are clear, consistent and fair.

"There is no international standard and there are currently no guidelines issued by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

"All they ask is that there is a whereabouts system that enables you to get access to the athletes."

World Anti-Doping Code

UK Sport said its policy brought the United Kingdom in line with the World Anti-Doping Code and was applicable not only to all sports that were part of its anti-doping programme, but also all sports which received funding from either UK Sport or the English, Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish sports councils.

"The fundamental basis of the World Anti-Doping Code is that of harmonisation," Scott said.

Scott said implementation across all sports would continue over the next 18 months.

During that time, governing bodies must ensure they comply with the World Anti-Doping Code, either through the adoption of the UK Anti-Doping Model Rules or through the rules of their international federations.

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