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Former Team Sky doctor asked to leave World Cup in Manchester

British Cycling officials were shocked to see jiffy bag doctor Freeman at the National Cycling Centre

The doctor accused of being at the centre of the Team Sky jiffy bag controversy was reportedly pushed out of the World Cup in Manchester last weekend.

Dr Richard Freeman, who worked at British Cycling until last month, had not kept adequate records of a medical package he had ordered for Sir Bradley Wiggins in June 2011.

He gave a written statement to a parliamentary hearing, saying the package contained the legal decongestant Fluimucil, rather than the banned corticosteroid triamcinolone.

He was criticised for this failure to keep records, and, as we reported, resigned from his role citing ill health.

British Cycling chief executive Julie Harrington said at the time: "We were investigating him on employment matters and Ukad (UK Anti-Doping) were investigating him on doping matters.

"After some months we were ready to continue with disciplinary action. Dr Freeman really wasn't well enough to commence that and so we've allowed him to resign.”

According to the Daily Mail, Julie Harrington was made aware that Freeman was in the HSBC UK National Cycling Centre.

She went to see him in the cafe, and told him he should leave.

The paper said: “It is believed Harrington, while powerless to eject Freeman from a public building, questioned the wisdom of him being there and said it would be better if he went. Freeman did not depart immediately but he was not seen again at the venue that weekend.”

 

 

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19 comments

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
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Or "at all guilty".

As for the records, I'm unsure. The rules of cycling and wada didn't require them at this time. Look at something like the NHS and tell me that everything is kept 100% secure and reliable...

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ChrisB200SX replied to alansmurphy | 6 years ago
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alansmurphy wrote:

Or "at all guilty". As for the records, I'm unsure. The rules of cycling and wada didn't require them at this time. Look at something like the NHS and tell me that everything is kept 100% secure and reliable...

Except, it's not the NHS that is on trial. We are referring to a highly funded small-scale sports entity with a specific narrow goal.

philtregear has hit the nail on the head, it simply isn't acceptable that he didn't keep adequate secure records. That he's hiding behind an illness and unable to face an enquiry but able to go to the velodrome is also unacceptable, to me.

If it had been me, rather than ask him to leave ... as his presence would seem somewhat inappropriate given the circumstances ... I would have tried to get the relevant people there to pose the questions he has not yet faced maybe even get some media coverage on-site.

Also, if he's not really done anything wrong other than been lax about his filekeeping and misplacing anything that could potentially be incriminating, why did he leave when asked?

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fukawitribe replied to alansmurphy | 6 years ago
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alansmurphy wrote:

Or "at all guilty".

Indeed.

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fukawitribe | 6 years ago
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@philtregear Nobody was found "entirely innocent", that's one of the main points of the inquiry.

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philtregear | 6 years ago
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Doctors must keep records of what they do professionally, regardless of their employment status. Not being able to understand a computer system, losing a laptop etc. are not credible reasons for a doctor not to be able to provide records of what he has done in his professional life. Let us imagne a situation whereby several athletes died whilst under the care of such a doctor. Post mortems suggested that  various dangerous drugs had been assimilated into their bodies. Would the CPS accept that the doctor was entirely innocent because he could not provide records of what he had or hadn`t prescribed? when and what blood tests or urine tests detected? How the general health of  these athletes changed and progressed leading up to their deaths? " Oh, I lost those records" says the doctor. " Oh, we didn`t have the right systems in place to ensure they were backed up" apologises the team manager. How would we think about such practises?  For the doctor, at best, that is extreme negligence. For the team, at best, that is accessory to manslaughter.That is precisely how we should judge Brailsford et al. They were awash with money. They had no excuse not to get this right. The rest is just a fog.

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
1 like

Thanks Drosco, quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit.

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
0 likes

And a cunt.

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drosco replied to alansmurphy | 6 years ago
4 likes
alansmurphy wrote:

And a cunt.

Nice one Oscar Wilde.

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wingmanrob | 6 years ago
6 likes

Lot of sky fan boys on this page

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littlemig replied to wingmanrob | 6 years ago
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wingmanrob wrote:

Lot of sky fan boys on this page

Not a fan of sky myself but who is that then?

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
1 like

Mattie, possibly if British Cycling owned the velodrome but they do not.

You also have to question, knowing BCs lack of abilities, whether he actually counted as an employee and whether he'd been informed he was being investigated and where he was or wasn't welcome...

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don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
2 likes

Good on the Daily Mail for taking the moral high ground...

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BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
1 like

Way to go on overstepping your authority, he should have told her to mind her own business. Whilst she is obviously a nice safe appointment for BC she has shown that she can do a job in male dominated environments, however acting out of turn based on nothing more than conjecture and no conviction/actually being guilty of anything is just wrong.

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MattieKempy | 6 years ago
2 likes

Despite all the above comments, if, as the article states, he was being investigated on employment grounds and would have been subject to disciplinary action had he not been too unwell, then I'd guess BC have every right to ask him to leave the building. Hardly controversial!

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Leviathan | 6 years ago
2 likes

-The paper said: “It is believed Harrington, while powerless to eject Freeman from a public building, questioned the wisdom of him being there and said it would be better if he went. Freeman did not depart immediately but he was not seen again at the venue that weekend.”

So he was asked to leave - though the commitee found no wrongdoing - he then didn't leave, until he left, after which he had left. Quoting the DM, really, is this journalism? Yeez, this article blows hot and cold. Or just blows.

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littlemig | 6 years ago
2 likes

Somehow I expect better from this site. "Disgraced" is not accurate is it?! If he is disgraced then Wiggins is too but that is not the case as far as I understand it. I don't recall you referring to Wiggins in that way.

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Alex Bowden replied to littlemig | 6 years ago
3 likes

littlemig wrote:

Somehow I expect better from this site. "Disgraced" is not accurate is it?! If he is disgraced then Wiggins is too but that is not the case as far as I understand it. I don't recall you referring to Wiggins in that way.

Inclined to agree. I've altered the headline.

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Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
0 likes

What a Nazi.

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
2 likes

WTAF?

Why is he disgraced?

He did keep records (though he wasn't required to) the records were stolen.

Why are people obsessed with a type of envelope?

Who the fuck thinks they can evict someone from a public building?

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