Behind the scenes: embedding integrity for Team Australia

Acknowledgement of Country: As we share a yarn today, we honour the stories that have been told on this land for thousands of years and acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as the traditional custodians of the land we're recording on and we pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

Justine Crawford: The partnership is CGA working with AFP and also Sport Integrity Australia and again, with our partners over in the United Kingdom across integrity, so UK Anti-Doping, Police Scotland, UK Gambling Commission, there's lots of partners that we can help be prepared because we need to understand the environment that we're going into.

Hayley Van Arkel: I think it's important for athletes to remember that within the doping control process they have rights and responsibilities. One of those rights is the ability to ask questions about the process.

So, I strongly encourage any athletes to be asking questions, particularly noting that the UK will be running the testing program.

Petria Thomas OLY: As the leader of the team, it's about setting the tone and the expectations, and reassuring all of our team members that there's people in our team to support them.

Justine Crawford: There's certainly a strong interplay between integrity, wellbeing and connection and belonging and we're really focused on the Glasgow 2026 behaviours of inclusiveness, integrity, respect, and excellence.

Hayley Van Arkel: It would be great to see confidence from athletes that when they come, they'll be competing against others in a clean, fair, and safe environment.

Tim Gavel: Hello and welcome to our Commonwealth Games series of On Side. I'm Tim Gavel.

Petria Thomas OLY: And I'm Petra Thomas. Today we're chatting with some of our Sport Integrity Australia team who will be on the ground in Glasgow to ensure this Comm Games is one of our safest and cleanest to date.

Tim Gavel: Yes, that's right. This episode is all about what happens behind the scenes and during a major sporting event to protect fair play on the world stage. We'll hear from Sport Integrity Australia officers who'll be there in dual roles, both as integrity personnel embedded within the team and as part of the anti-doping testing effort.

Petria Thomas OLY: It's a great look at the collaboration, planning and expertise that has gone into making this Comm Games clean, safe, and fair for all involved.

Tim Gavel: And our guests today, Sport Integrity Australia's Justine Crawford, who's the integrity lead for Glasgow 2026. Hello, Justine.

Justine Crawford: Hello, Tim.

Tim Gavel: And also from Sport Integrity Australia, Hayley Van Arkel, a member of our anti-doping testing team, who'll be part of the testing team in Glasgow and is also on the United Kingdom Anti-Doping Task Force. Hello Hayley.

Hayley Van Arkel: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Petria Thomas OLY: Justine, if we can start with you, can you just tell us a bit about the work that's been taking place over many months already? We've had quite a few meetings and trips together in my role as Chef de Mission to ensure integrity is embedded into every corner of the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Justine Crawford: Thanks, Petria. The integrity strategy, I guess, has had a multi-pronged approach, but the key point is that we are embedded in the team management group that we've been planning for a good 18 months or more and making sure that there's that sort of integrity lens across all of the decision-making as the team is preparing for Glasgow 2026.

So, we're really well integrated, working really closely with all of the different areas across operations, media and marketing, performance support and we sort of break that down into different components. Part of that is looking at what sort of policies are in place and how do they align with the programme sports that are on the team and also with Commonwealth Sport and the organising companies.

So, once we sort of had that bedrock of understanding what the suite of team behaviours and integrity processes look like, then we can actually start planning for that. We do a lot around incident management and we're in the thick of that at the moment, a lot of education initiatives, so that runs from doing things online to face-to-face education and working on an online induction for the whole team and then communication and awareness strategies as well.

So, we really want to focus on prevention, but then if something does arise during the Games, we're really well prepared to deal with it efficiently and transparently and supporting everyone that's part of the process.

Petria Thomas OLY: And can I say that all this work going on in the integrity space puts my mind very much at ease that we're going to be well prepared for anything that does pop up integrity wise during the Games.

As someone whose everyday role is that liaison point for SIA around major sporting events, Justine, and embedded integrity within those events, can you tell us a little bit about what separates this Commonwealth Games from previous ones and showcases what CGA has done to really bring integrity to the fore in all of its thinking?

Justine Crawford: We've had a strong partnership with Commonwealth Games Australia since we formed in 2020, and at Birmingham 22, we did have an integrity strategy and it's really just being able to build on that, so we had the one sort of integrity liaison role at Birmingham and building in those learnings.

So, obviously we don't have a single village, and we're split across accommodation zones so we've grown the integrity representatives that will be actually on the team on the ground. We're really aligned with the operations team, so we're having regularly engaging with the operations side of the house and difference is just building, yeah, building on that integrity strategy.

Tim Gavel: What about, reminders to athletes, given that, as you say, we don't have an athlete’s village, we've got athletes living in hotels this time in Glasgow for a Commonwealth Games, how do you remind athletes about integrity measures and I guess who to contact if they have any concerns about integrity matters? What do you do?

Justine Crawford: Yeah, so we are doing a lot of messaging with Commonwealth Games Australia in different ways and working closely with Commonwealth Sport and organising company to understand their reporting mechanisms as well, so they align, but it's all about having multiple ways.

So, they can come in person to anyone that's in the accommodation zone, so there'll be an integrity officer there working very closely with the Deputy Chef de Mission and the Operations Team so there's someone on the ground they can report to. We'll have duty phones, so a phone, a UK phone number that people can contact, and there's also an app, so there's a Commonwealth Games Australia app.

So, multiple mechanisms that people can report if they have any issues and we're really encouraging across both integrity and safety and security, proactive culture. So yes, we do a lot of messaging beforehand around prevention and it's just making it a 'business as usual'. If there's anything that makes you feel uncomfortable or doesn't quite feel right, then report it early and we can all work on it together.

Tim Gavel: How many Commonwealth Games now has SIA been embedded?

Justine Crawford: So, Birmingham 2022 –

Tim Gavel: Right.

Justine Crawford: – then there was the Trinbago Commonwealth Youth Games. So, we had two safeguarding officers that supported that team. And then for Glasgow 2026, we have three other integrity officers along with myself that will be supporting the team.

Tim Gavel: Do you find that, I guess, athletes at first might have been a little hesitant to approach you about integrity matters, but now that you're becoming a little more familiar, do you think that it's going to be a lot easier on you and also for the athletes to approach you?

Justine Crawford: Yeah, I think so. Like it's just becoming, part of a business as usual. We know wellbeing roles are really quite embedded in teams now and the athlete wellbeing and engagement network has been established within the high-performance system for quite some time, and this is sort of a natural progression.

We've got national integrity managers embedded in AOC, Paralympics Australia, so it's becoming more and more usual to have this kind of role and I think what's becoming quite apparent is that having that role ring fenced is really important because if something does pop up during the Games it can be time sensitive, it could be complex, and people have got certain roles they need to do so having that expertise that has been engaging with the organising committee, with Commonwealth Sport within the actual team and the Chef de Mission and understanding roles and responsibilities. Yeah, and we're just an approachable person that someone can come and report to and have a chat with.

Tim Gavel: You've also got law enforcement too, haven't you? AFP. So, they're involved in this whole process.

Justine Crawford: Yeah, so it's an integrity safety team. So, the partnership is CGA working with AFP and also Sport Integrity Australia. We have a great relationship with the Australian Federal Police and we're really looking at that integration, particularly when it comes to critical incident planning, integrity, security incidents, so the communication channels, the incident processes and how we communicate and liaise is really important.

And again, with our partners over in the United Kingdom across integrity, so UK Anti-Doping, Police Scotland, UK Gambling Commission, there's lots of partners that we can help be prepared because we need to understand the environment that we're going into. It's not in isolation, so working on our, well, maintaining our international partnerships is key.

Tim Gavel: And Hayley, you're involved with the UKAD Anti-Doping Task Force. Can you tell us about your role there, but also about the whole aspect of UKAD Anti-Doping Task Force? Is that to give confidence to athletes and people participating that, yep, everything is being looked after here?

Hayley Van Arkel: Yeah, of course, happy to share. So, I've been on the Task Force now for about six months, and the Task Force is comprised of a number of representatives from anti-doping organisations who come together to plan and address the risks for anti-doping ahead of the Games.

So, the Task Force is looking at the period before we head into the Games and really trying to address those risks so that when we get to the Games and when we land in Glasgow, we've already tried to address fairness and cleanliness in sport.

Tim Gavel: You mentioned the work that's been done beforehand. That's the hard part, isn't it? To get everybody tested and to give confidence to each athlete that it is going to be a fair playing field.

Hayley Van Arkel: Yeah, exactly right. The Task Force is really aiming to create fairness in the lead up to the Games and in doing that we're reaching out to each of the Commonwealth countries that will be coming up and trying to build a risk assessment of where the risk lies within their own sport and within their country and then further to that, developing testing recommendations that we would recommend each country implement, and working alongside those countries to implement that in the lead up to the Games.

So, I hope athletes can feel really assured that testing is being conducted across all the countries in the lead up to the event so that we're trying to address that risk before we even get there.

Petria Thomas OLY: Hayley, it must be really interesting to work with some of our international colleagues on a major event like this. What have been some of the key learnings for you in that process and how important is global collaboration on the anti-doping front?

Hayley Van Arkel: Yeah, absolutely. A real privilege to work alongside so many different international counterparts and colleagues. Yeah, it's been really great learning just to see all the efforts that go into building that risk assessment across so many countries.

At the moment, I get to see it from Australia and that's quite a small and limited scope, so to see just how many resources and information is required to build a risk assessment that is really going to address the risks that we see across sports coming into the Commonwealth Games, and then further to that how we then implement these test recommendations.

I think I was really surprised how much is really required to build that and how important it is to work alongside each and every country, more than the countries, to be working with international federations and sporting organisations and other anti-doping organisations so that we are building recommendations that are reflective of the risks that we're going to see there.

Tim Gavel: I'd imagine you'd learn a lot along the way. It's not sort of, here it is, here's the paper, here's the blueprint. I'd imagine that it needs to be quite flexible, doesn't it?

Hayley Van Arkel: Yeah, absolutely. It's been quite a journey over the six months and continues to build as we get closer and closer to the Games. Yeah, certainly not one point of information and everything's locked in, it's building as we receive more information and as we collaborate with more and more countries and anti-doping organisations to build that picture so that we can test the right cohort of athletes and identify those risks before we get there.

Tim Gavel: So, what's your role going to be, Hayley? Are you going to be doing the testing or are you overseeing? What sort of things are you going to be doing in Glasgow?

Hayley Van Arkel: Yeah, so once I land in Glasgow, the task force will be finished, and I'll be heading into the doping control command centre. 

So, lots of athletes would often see or get to meet our doping control officers and our chaperones who are wonderful, but they are the people working with you to conduct the test. What they might not realise is that there's the other side of the house who need to plan for that test to happen.

So, all your logistics of planning who to test, when to test, where to test, that will all be done within the command centre. So, I'll have the privilege of working in that space once I land in Glasgow.

Tim Gavel: Sounds fancy.

Hayley Van Arkel: Yeah (laughter).

Justine Crawford: (laughter)

Tim Gavel: So just on, I guess, the difference between testing at a Commonwealth Games, testing at other international events or domestic competitions, given that everybody is pretty much close by, does that make a difference when it comes to anti-doping?

Hayley Van Arkel: Yeah, for sure. Seeing so many Commonwealth countries come together, obviously they're going to have their own experiences of anti-doping, but they're now going to come into one space where the anti-doping will be organised by the UK Anti-Doping agency and so we'll be subject to testing from that side.

So, things may look slightly different, but we can get into –

Tim Gavel: Yep. Okay. Yeah.

Hayley Van Arkel: – how an athlete would then look at that differently. But from a planning perspective on the anti-doping testing side of things, I guess our scope becomes quite narrow when we're looking at just one major event, very different to say the routine testing that we would conduct in Australia or even your own domestic competitions.

Justine Crawford: And Tim, UKAD also have an education task force that our Sport Integrity Australia colleague, Tara Huntly is on. 

So that's working closely with Commonwealth Sport and Glasgow organising company on what to expect before you arrive so that education piece is really important. And across the broader integrity threats as well, like safeguarding, they'll be doing webinars so people kind of know what to expect on the ground, particularly if they don't have potentially people within their team or the resources to be able to report matters directly, those sorts of things.

So, it's definitely a collaboration effect –

Hayley Van Arkel: Yeah absolutely.

Justine Crawford: – with all the international partners, and prevention first and then response on the ground.

Tim Gavel: Petria, I'd imagine that looking back to your time as an athlete, Commonwealth Games champion multiple times, of course, now the Chef de Mission, but you look back on your anti-doping experience, did you enjoy it? Was it something you look forward to?

Petria Thomas OLY: I don't think any athletes particularly look forward to being drug tested, but it's part of what being an athlete is. And I reflect back to my very first experience as a young athlete, when I was drug tested here in Canberra at the AIS, and I remember how nervous I was and apprehensive, and I was busting to go, but couldn't go.

You go through all those sorts of things when you're first starting out in sport, but by the end of my career, it was 12 years, I was on national teams and by the end of it I could just almost go on command when I needed to –

Tim Gavel: (laughter)

Justine Crawford: (laughter)

Petria Thomas OLY: – which is really helpful, particularly when you're at a major event like the Comm Games or the Olympics, Paralympics, whatever it might be, and you get tested after your event in the evening because usually because you've done well, won a medal perhaps, to be able to get that process completed quickly is really helpful.

But yeah, I don't think it's something that athletes particularly look forward to, but they know it's part of what is helping to keep sport fair.

Tim Gavel: What about for really young athletes who may not be all that experienced in this process? You have to sort of guide them through it a little bit because you do have some young athletes on your team and I'd imagine that they'd be feeling quite nervous about the whole process.

So, it'd be good to have you there to say, 'Listen, I was nervous when I was young too.'

Petria Thomas OLY: Yeah, I think so. Everyone that wants to compete at the elite level of sport has to understand that this is part of the process. But there is apprehension when you're young and sometimes people are not sure of exactly how the process works or what they need to do, how long it takes, all that sort of stuff. I think that's where I know our Sport Integrity Australia policy is very much education first before testing so that athletes don't go into it blind.

But in terms of being prepared, I think it's just about understanding the rules, understanding the requirements, and particularly from an athlete's perspective, making sure that they've got a list of any medication they're taking so they're not trying to remember during the testing process what vitamins they might have been taking, for example, so I think that's really important.

Going into things, being prepared gives you confidence that you're going to get through it in the right way and it's the same as preparing for your performance in the pool or on the track or whatever it might be, when you're prepared, you can go into it confident and get the job done.

Tim Gavel: Yes, brings both Hayley and Justine into the program here. Just how do you make athletes feel less stressed about the whole environment that they're entering into?

Hayley Van Arkel: Yeah, happy to speak from a testing perspective. I know our doping control staff acknowledge that it probably is quite a nerve-wracking experience for athletes and acknowledge that it can be quite confronting regardless of whether you've had your education prior to testing or not. But I think it's important for athletes to remember that within the doping control process they have rights and responsibilities.

One of those rights is the ability to ask questions about the process so I strongly encourage any athletes to be asking questions particularly noting that the UK will be running the testing program. Ask questions of the doping control offices or your chaperone, they're there to help you, they're there to help answer your questions. Yeah. It's okay to be nervous along the way though.

Justine Crawford: And we certainly worked with the other functional area leads within the Glasgow 2026 team, the performance healthcare, and we recently had an induction for all of the headquarters’ staff along with the sport team managers and we had an opportunity to run through scenarios. 

So, it's really important the whole team understands what the testing process is, not just the athletes, so they're conscious of, there can be an athlete representative, we're there to support.

So, we're doing that education face to face and in lots of different ways for the whole team because it is important that we understand the athlete experience as much as we can.

Tim Gavel: Yes, and Petria, do you, as Chef de Mission, do you get up and talk about your experiences or how do you approach it when you've got a group of athletes in front of you as you'll have in Glasgow? How do you approach it?

Petria Thomas OLY: I probably try not to shove things down people's throats. I mean, I'm more than willing to have a chat to athletes if they have questions about any aspect of being at the Games, including testing or any integrity matters that might pop up.

But I think it's just about giving them the tools and the requisite education, I suppose, so that they know that there's people that they can go and talk to and I'll be one of those along with many others within our team leadership and management groups.

So, I think the athletes, once they get to the Commonwealth Games level, they know what to expect generally. It may be a first experience in a multi-games environment for some of these younger athletes and they're the ones that sometimes like to have a chat or, with people within their own team or the headquarters staff, whatever it might be, but there's loads of people around it's certainly not just me getting up and telling people what to expect and what they need to do.

Tim Gavel: But you are the mother hen though, aren't you?

Petria Thomas OLY: (laughter) Well, I don't know. I've not thought of myself that way before, Tim.

Justine Crawford: (laughter)

Hayley Van Arkel: (laughter)

Petria Thomas OLY: But yeah, I suppose as the leader of the team, it's about setting the tone and the expectations and reassuring all of our team members that there's people in our team to support them.

Tim Gavel: Like, I can't remember, having covered 7 Commonwealth Games, that there's been so much protection for athletes and advice given to athletes and guidance given to athletes because it wasn't always the way in the past, was it? It was pretty much left to your own devices to navigate this.

Petria Thomas OLY: Yeah, there's certainly been a lot of change over the years and in my younger years and some of my first teams, it was pretty much turn up and do your sport and then you go.

Tim Gavel: Yeah.

Petria Thomas OLY: But no, a lot of things have changed. I mean, there's a lot of things obviously in the integrity space that have changed where things that were even happening maybe 5, 10 years ago are now not okay.

Tim Gavel: Yeah.

Petria Thomas OLY: So, it's important to try and impart that knowledge on people as much as you can and ultimately, it's up to people themselves to actually take that in and understand it, but I think we need to do the right things in terms of providing the opportunity to learn and understand, and understand those rights and responsibilities around integrity as well and then provide the support on the ground.

Justine Crawford: There's certainly a strong interplay between integrity, wellbeing and connection and belonging and we're really focused on the Glasgow 2026 team behaviours of inclusiveness, integrity, respect, and excellence.

So, all of the functional area leads are working together on that and it's been really great to be able to do that.

Tim Gavel: I think t's great. Like, if I was a parent of a young athlete, and hearing what you were saying, I think you'd be quite comfortable in sending your child across to Glasgow in a team environment. I think it's really important to have that confidence, not just from an athlete's point of view, but from a family point of view.

Justine Crawford: And Commonwealth Sport had a safeguarding strategy in place for Birmingham 2022 and obviously a place again for Glasgow 2026, so working closely with them to understand how we align with that and, already in touch, so we know each other when we're on the ground.

So yeah, safeguarding particularly in major sporting events is increased in focus and what those frameworks look like.

Tim Gavel: Yes. In your roles, firstly to you, Hayley, what does success look like for you in Glasgow? What are you hoping to come out of the end of it? Apart from being really tired –

Hayley Van Arkel: (laughter)

Tim Gavel: – what are you hoping to get out of it?

Hayley Van Arkel: Yeah, I think it's safe to say that we're all hoping to see this Games be a clean Games. Yeah, the task force is certainly taking steps at the moment to address the risks and ensure fairness in the lead up, and as we land on the ground in Glasgow and start up the doping control, there'll be steps taken there again to ensure this fairness.

So, I think, yeah, it would be great to see confidence from athletes that when they come, they'll be competing against others in a clean, fair, and safe environment.

Tim Gavel: Mm. Justine?

Justine Crawford: Taking one from Petria, I think we really want everyone on the Australian team, regardless of what their role is, to have a really, really great experience and be in an environment where they can perform at their best.

So, health and safety of the team is really, really important and we've done a lot in the preparations to raise awareness, raise education, and everyone has what they need on the ground to be able to do that, and if something does pop up, then we've got transparent, effective incidence response, so that we can work through any matters in a good way.

Tim Gavel: Yes. Having been a journalist and commentator at seven Commonwealth Games, let me tell you that minor issues do get blown up a fair bit. And Petria, I'm sure you're hoping you don't have to deal with issues, but they, as I say, having been on the other side, I can tell you that, yeah, even the most minor issue does become quite major.

Petria Thomas OLY: Yeah, you're right there, Tim, and particularly in the lead up to the games as well, there always seems to be this period of time where everyone's waiting for the competition to start but in that time before the games, those little things can sometimes get blown way out of proportion.

So, I think my approach certainly is to manage things quietly behind the scenes where possible and we'll deal with whatever things that pop up, and even during the Games, same approach.

We have an amazingly experienced and skilled group of people in our headquarters staff, and I know, I'm sure we're all on the same page in terms of we'll go about our business quietly and professionally and when things do sort of get into that public realm we'll deal with them appropriately.

Tim Gavel: Good on you, Petria. That's a great answer. I think it just about sums it up. A big thank you to our guests for sharing their insights into the integrity work happening behind the scenes for Glasgow 2026.

It's clear that from an embedded integrity roles to anti-doping operations, a huge amount of planning and collaboration has gone into this Commonwealth Games to ensure that it is clean, safe, and fair. So once again, thank you very much to both of you for coming in today.

Justine Crawford: Thank you.

Hayley Van Arkel: Yeah.

Petria Thomas OLY: And I'm very proud, and sure everyone who's involved in the team, to see Commonwealth Games Australia really leading the way in this space and building an environment where athletes can compete fairly and confidently.

Tim Gavel: So good luck, Petria. Good luck to all of you heading across to Glasgow for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, it'll be a great experience. Good luck in Glasgow, thanks for sharing your insights today, and stay tuned for our next episode in this special Commonwealth Games series.

Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.