Following on from previous WADA Talks interviews with Sir Craig Reedie, Kirsty Coventry, Francis Dodoo, Francesco Ricci Bitti and David Howman, three-time Olympic medalist Lauryn Williams shares her views on her career in sport, transitioning from sport and the importance of athletes speaking up against doping. In the interview below, Williams discusses her inspiring new tenure as a WADA Athlete Committee member, the influence of the athlete entourage, the growing concern surrounding supplements and the key role of athletes as anti-doping advocates.

Williams was interviewed by the Sports Integrity Initiative in July this year, where she explained her experience of supplements earlier on in her career, and stated her views that athletes deserve a second chance. Williams is the first American woman to medal in both the summer and winter Olympic Games and is a US sprinter and bobsledder, who took silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the 100 metres, and gold at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki ahead of Veronica Campbell. She also won the silver medal as part of the two-woman bobsled team at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

She has strong views about the importance of proper nutrition, and how it is becoming more difficult to draw a line between what constitutes a natural food, and what is considered a supplement. She also spoke about how marketing has led to the perception that supplements are an essential part of sport. She reiterates that view in the WADA interview above. “I would challenge athletes to take responsibility for their health and the food they put in their system”, she says. “Make this part of your training and regimen to get the right food and nutrition into your body. By doing that, you can really enhance the way you compete in sport”.

• The WADA Talks interview with Lauryn Williams was originally sent out on 14 October 2015 in a media release by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). You can access the original by clicking here.