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Shane Sutton resigns from British Cycling

Sky Sports News says Australian at centre of discrimination claims to go

Shane Sutton is to resign from his role as technical director at British Cycling according to Sky Sports News.

The 58-year-old Australian was suspended from his position overnight as the governing body launched an investigation into allegations he had referred to paracyclists as "gimps" and "wobblies."

> Shane Sutton alleged to have referred to para-cyclists as ‘gimps’ and ‘wobblies’

In recent days Sutton, who succeeded Sir Dave Brailsford at the helm of the national team in 2014 has also been at the centre of claims of sexism first aired by track sprinter Jess Varnish and backed up by other riders including Victoria Pendleton.

Sutton denies the allegations, but says he is stepping down to avoid the issue from distracting from preparations for Rio this summer.

In a statement released via British Cycling, he said: "Today starts the 100-day countdown to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is absolutely crucial that, as our athletes begin their final preparations for Rio, they are able to do so free of distraction.

“The developments over the past few days have clearly become a distraction. It is for this reason, and having spoken to friends and family, that I believe it is in the best interests of British Cycling for me to step down from my position as technical director.

“It is important that the review announced by British Cycling and UK Sport now takes place, and I will obviously co-operate fully with this. I have made clear that I reject the specific claims that have been made against me in recent days, and I look forward to taking a full part in the review process so I can respond to the allegations in detail.

Sutton added: “Cycling is my passion and I have always worked to get the very best out of professional athletes. I am proud of what British Cycling has achieved and I am excited by the potential of the team for Rio. They will always have my full support.”

British Cycling's chief executive, Ian Drake, said:  “I want to put on record my thanks to Shane for his work with British Cycling and the part he has played in our success. We have a lot to be proud of and, with the Olympics and Paralympics this summer, a lot to look forward to.

“I understand and respect Shane’s decision to stand down. His primary focus has always been the athletes, and this decision is something he has taken to allow them to focus on their preparation for Rio. Andy Harrison, programmes director at British Cycling, will be taking over with immediate effect and will manage the team in the build-up to Rio 2016.

“As we announced yesterday, we are now putting in place an independent review with UK Sport so that we can investigate the allegations that have been raised in recent days about the culture within the Great Britain Cycling Team. We continue to be committed to promoting equality of opportunity and providing a supportive environment within British Cycling.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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27 comments

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bottechia | 7 years ago
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I am sure this will come as no surprise to Nicole Cooke and others. If you look back, the warning signs will be there. Clearly promoted in 2014 way out of his depth to take the GB team to the Olympics.

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Jimmy Ray Will | 7 years ago
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Wow, i love these stories as it shows where you,as an indivudal sits within the general spectrum of society.

I am clearly a lot more sexist and tolerant of generally unaccepted behaviour than I thought.

In this instance(s), my old line of - banter, is banter, all the way up to the point where situations change, and suddenly its indefendable comments that lead to your sacking, seems very apt.

On one level, its a sad world where everything you say in private can be used against you in a public environment... on the other, its  sad world where people are still holding on to such out dated prejudices. 

Anyway, what I meant to say is that the BC performance team environment, is not necessarily a nice one... infact its horrible to all but the tiny minority that thrive in that environment. 

My personal feeling is that the women and paraolympic athletes that feel the most burnt by this environment, fee this way, not because the system was necessarily  overly discriminatory to them, but because they stayed in a system that was not compatible for them, where if they had a larger talent pool (women, paraolympians) they would have been spat out at an earlier stage. 

What I mean by this, is that the whole system is toxic and needs reviewing... this is so much more than just a few naughty statements from one man. 

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userfriendly replied to Jimmy Ray Will | 7 years ago
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Jimmy Ray Will wrote:

Wow, i love these stories as it shows where you,as an indivudal sits within the general spectrum of society.

I am clearly a lot more sexist and tolerant of generally unaccepted behaviour than I thought.

Well, self-awareness is the first step towards improvement.

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Dogless replied to Jimmy Ray Will | 7 years ago
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Jimmy Ray Will wrote:

My personal feeling is that the women and paraolympic athletes that feel the most burnt by this environment, fee this way, not because the system was necessarily  overly discriminatory to them, but because they stayed in a system that was not compatible for them, where if they had a larger talent pool (women, paraolympians) they would have been spat out at an earlier stage. 

 

 

How, you've gone through some gymnastics to get to that point! I *almost* see what you're saying, but this is still victim blaming. The blame still seems to rest within the people who remained in an incompatible system, as opposed to lying within the system and its agents.

 

 

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kil0ran | 7 years ago
3 likes

Nothing wrong with tough motivational messages including bad language and raised voices. What is wrong is justifying an action based on something a person can't change about themselves (being a woman, being disabled, having a fat arse, whatever).

Even the riders who've come out in support of Sutton have said he's unlikeable and to a certain extent the firebrand terrifying coach has their place. What they have to do is separate the performance from the individual: "that shift was fucking useless, get out there and do it again" vs "you're fucking rubbish, you never put a shift in"

Coach/Athlete is usually a Parent/Child relationship - and those work best when they're supportive within clear boundaries and expectations. At the start of all this he said Jess was cut because her times weren't good enough - fair enough, as long as she's been given a fair go (i.e. not injured) and told she was at risk. That doesn't seem to have happened and is actually irrelevant now as the sexist comments have ended up being the catalyst for the other revelations. Its the comments about paralympians that have got him sacked because they're indefensible. Unless pressure was brought to bear on BC by sponsors his comments about Jess would have resulted in a reprimand and a statement about how BC is inclusive and celebrates all its winning athletes and he would have still been in charge for Rio

The alarm bells should have been ringing back at the Worlds when Varnish & Marchant made that public statement about coaching - they're all media trained these days and that sort of thing just doesn't happen unless something is completely rotten in an organisation. You wouldn't hear Froome or Sagan slagging off their coaches in public or bemoaning team selection decisions.

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jim compston | 7 years ago
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I think British cycling/UK sport probably have a proper bullying/harassment policy and a whole team of HR people to oversee it and protect whistle blowers. I think that is probably the proper way to report these issues, rather than waiting till you're out the door and running to the bastion of impartial journalism that is the daily mail.

The conduct alleged is completely improper and unprofessional and has no place in todays society, but the way it has been brought to light will be severely damaging to all of the British cycling in the lead up to the olympics.

I would also assume that sponsorship of British Cycling could take a hit because of this, and that won't be helpful for the women or mens teams.

So rather than athletes raising concerns about improper comments from senior coaching staff to be dealt with internally we now have a damaging witch hunt led by an already anti cycling british press.

Great!

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Mungecrundle | 7 years ago
2 likes

Men, Women or Paralympians, these are all highly dedicated and motivated individuals who wouldn't have gained a training place within BC without an enormous amount of effort and perseverence in addition to basic talent.

There is certainly a place for a tough training regime, expectation of high standards and motivational techniques supported by modern sports psychology. I also believe that banter which to an outsider might appear to be outrageously inappropriate can be very healthy in a tight knit team of people who work closely with each other. This is absolutely not the same as or compatible with fostering a culture of discrimination based on sex, race, religion or disability, or where the 'victim' of the banter is no position to make it stop when it crosses the line. If this is not blindingly apparent to anyone in a position of management over other people then they have no place in a position of such responsibility.

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cidercyclist | 7 years ago
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Although I have little doubt that he is not the most well-like member of BC, what would be the point of someone who wasn't passionate about extracting every ounce of performance from individuals under their direction. We wouldn't be where we are in world cycling if it wasn't for driven people like Shane Sutton.

It doesn't however excuse the use of derogatory language towards any person whether they be able-bodied, para, black, white, gay or straight and for that (providing that it can be proven) he must be investigated and sanctioned accordingly. Sadly, that probably won't happen now he has resigned, which also seems to speak volumes as to the validity of the comments made by Jess Varnish et al.

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Yogic Cyclist | 7 years ago
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How about we see if the accusations are true before you all condem the highly successful cycling coach. Again the rather strange new British behaviour of guilty by say so & media. I will wait for evidence.

pathetic. 

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brooksby replied to Yogic Cyclist | 7 years ago
2 likes

Yogic Cyclist wrote:

How about we see if the accusations are true before you all condem the highly successful cycling coach. Again the rather strange new British behaviour of guilty by say so & media. I will wait for evidence.

pathetic. 

Well, hello, Mr Sutton, and how are you doing?  3

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Yogic Cyclist replied to brooksby | 7 years ago
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brooksby wrote:

Yogic Cyclist wrote:

How about we see if the accusations are true before you all condem the highly successful cycling coach. Again the rather strange new British behaviour of guilty by say so & media. I will wait for evidence.

pathetic. 

Well, hello, Mr Sutton, and how are you doing?  3

 

fine thanks, you?

i have some spare time available, if you want some 121 coaching drop me a line. At:

idontsufferfoolsgladlyisayithowiseeit [at] growup.com

or

ifyournotgoodenoughyougetdroppedyouknewthat [at] itselitesport.co.oz 

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OldRidgeback | 7 years ago
4 likes

Does this mean that Ms Varnish will be reinstated or that Tre White (current world BMX no3) and Quillan Isidore will be able to go to the BMX Worlds at their own expense and later in the year also compete in Brazil?

Persoanlly I think there's more wrong within BC than just one Australian.

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SoBinary replied to OldRidgeback | 7 years ago
1 like

OldRidgeback wrote:

Does this mean that Ms Varnish will be reinstated ..

 

If her times were proved to have been materially affected by Suttons sexist remarks in her exit review then yes reinstate her I say.

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kitkat replied to OldRidgeback | 7 years ago
4 likes

OldRidgeback wrote:

Persoanlly I think there's more wrong within BC than just one Australian.

my thoughts exactly. I don't think he should be the scapegoat and everyone else in BC gets to walk away from this

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bikewithnoname | 7 years ago
1 like

2 ways to look at this: He did wrong and resigned, or He didn't do wrong has been pressured to resign.

Lets hope for the sake of "justice" it was the former, becaue if these allegations prove untrue it's a pretty shocking turn of events.

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OhYesWell replied to bikewithnoname | 7 years ago
1 like

bikewithnoname wrote:

2 ways to look at this: He did wrong and resigned, or He didn't do wrong has been pressured to resign.

Lets hope for the sake of "justice" it was the former, becaue if these allegations prove untrue it's a pretty shocking turn of events.

 

Either way his resignation isn't enough and we need to expose all the nasties from whoever within British Cycling. Then they get binned off with NO PAYOFF & NO PENSION.

Too often the "we learned a lesson" clause gets trotted out and the guilty walk off still in profit. Not in this case folks.

I'd love to know what Sir David Brailsford thinks of all this rather than the politically sanitised version... he may even have seen it coming.

Oh, and didn't Mr(I'm being polite) Sutton work for him once?

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StraelGuy | 7 years ago
1 like

guyrwood wrote

"Good, now f**k off back to Australia."

Sorry, I may be being a bit presumptive here but he really does sound like an unpleasant piece of work. The kind of out-dated bellend who expects his wife to have his tea on the table when he gets in from work and calls gay people poofs when he thinks no one's listening.

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Forzamark | 7 years ago
1 like

I notice he says the specific claims against him. Ie he is sexist but he didn't tell Varnish to go have a baby!

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OhYesWell | 7 years ago
2 likes

i trust that the full report of the independent review will be made public within the next six months. No need to drag it out when all parties are here in Britain.

Also hope that any other aggrieved parties will come forward quickly rather than think his resignation is enough. Let's get everything out in the open now...

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brooksby | 7 years ago
3 likes

So who's in charge for the 99 days running up to the Olympics?  It seems a terrible time for all this to blow up...

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StraelGuy | 7 years ago
1 like

Good, now f**k off back to Australia.

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SoBinary replied to StraelGuy | 7 years ago
8 likes

guyrwood wrote:

Good, now f**k off back to Australia.

Just love how you sped up the banking to the moral high ground there.

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WolfieSmith replied to SoBinary | 7 years ago
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SoBinary wrote:

guyrwood wrote:

Good, now f**k off back to Australia.

Just love how you sped up the banking to the moral high ground there.

.. by pointing it aren't you skimming the railings above him? 

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SoBinary replied to WolfieSmith | 7 years ago
1 like

WolfieSmith wrote:

SoBinary wrote:

guyrwood wrote:

Good, now f**k off back to Australia.

Just love how you sped up the banking to the moral high ground there.

.. by pointing it aren't you skimming the railings above him? 

Next time I'll use the sarcasm tag.

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Pub bike replied to StraelGuy | 7 years ago
1 like

guyrwood wrote:

Good, now f**k off back to Australia.

Like many Australians in the UK, he likely has either permanent residence, or a UK passport.  You're probably stuck with him.

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Rapha Nadal | 7 years ago
8 likes

Is he throwing a wobblie?

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WolfieSmith | 7 years ago
24 likes

Off to have a baby apparently...

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