- Post reveals often-forgotten element of professional sport
Aussie water polo star Tilly Kearns has laid bare the rigours of drug testing within professional sport with a remarkable post on Instagram.
The 2024 Paris Olympics silver medallist has revealed elite athletes are required to provide personal information to drug testers from the World Anti Doping Agency.
Her slideshow explains that athletes around the world are chosen, sometimes randomly or based on team ranking, to be placed in WADA’s ‘whereabouts testing’ pool.
According to Kearns, any athlete who gets selected must provide their overnight address, daily routine and a one-hour timeslot during which they can guarantee their availability to be tested.
The 25-year-old has disclosed that she’s been in the testing pool for the last six years, but has now been taken off.
‘Once they (testers) notify you, you can’t leave their sight until you’ve provided the sample,’ Kearns wrote.
Tilly Kearns (pictured) is one of Australia’s biggest water polo stars and was a part of the team that won silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Kearns has provided an explainer slideshow via her Instagram account to show the private information elite athletes have to provide to drug testers
The revelation will come as a major surprise to her fans, with big-name athletes rarely divulging that level of detail
Kearns also explained the damning consequences of not complying with WADA’s requirements.
‘If you’re not where you said you’d be and they show up, you have one hour to get there, and if not, it’s a strike,’ Kearns said.
‘3 strikes in a year = suspended from sport, up to 4 years.’
Kearns’s take is confirmed by WADA’s Anti Doping Code and International Standard for Testing.
A four-year ban would be the death of many athletes’ careers.
Despite having to give the body some very personal information, Kearns is supportive of the invasive nature of drug testing.
‘It keeps our sports clean, so we’re all here for it,’ she said.
Kearns, who is the daughter of Australian rugby union legend Phil Kearns, has been tested since she was in her teens, so the break from the regime will be a relief.
Her comments come just months after she split up with her NFL player boyfriend Justin Dedich.
Tilly’s father Phil Kearns (pictured right with his daughter) is a rugby union legend who played 67 games for the Wallabies
Tilly and now NFL star ex-boyfriend Justin Dedich (both pictured) reportedly broke up in August this year
The Australian water polo team made history in Paris last year (pictured), claiming their best Olympics result since Sydney 2000
The pair made the decision due to the unsolvable problems of maintaining a long-distance relationship, despite claiming they are still in love with each other.
Australia’s women’s water polo team will next feature in a major competition when they take to the water for the water polo World Cup Finals.
The event will be held in Sydney from July 20 to 26 next year.
It’ll be the first time since the 2000 Olympics that Sydney’s Olympic pool will host the world’s elite water polo nations.
