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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Jack Snape

Sarah Benson: from a PhD in explosives to overseeing integrity in Australian sport

Sarah Benson was appointed chief executive officer of Sport Integrity Australia in March 2025.
Sarah Benson was appointed chief executive officer of Sport Integrity Australia in March 2025. Photograph: Adam McGrath/SIA

Sarah Benson is the forensic scientist who has been appointed sport’s top cop as chief executive of Sport Integrity Australia. Her CV includes working on federal police responses to the Bali bombings, the downing of MH17 in Ukraine and the volcanic eruption on New Zealand’s White Island.

That experience prepared the 47-year-old for a not-straightforward initiation, where she found herself at the centre of the ferocious debate around illicit drugs in sport just as the AFL and the code’s players were finalising an update to the controversial “three-strike” policy.

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