Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

GB track riders "treated like kids," says Jason Kenny

Meanwhile, Kenny's fiancee Laura Trott defends Katie Archibald over motorbike injury...

Ahead of the UCI Track World Championships in London this weekend, two riders who led Team GB’s gold medal charge there at London 2012, Jason Kenny and Laura Trott, have given interviews that provide a glimpse of the relationship between Great Britain’s riders and coaching staff. And their comments suggest all may not be especially rosy, with Kenny saying riders are "treated like kids."

After picking up two Olympic gold medals apiece during that heady summer – Kenny in the team and individual sprints, Trott in the team pursuit and omnium – the pair announced to the world that they were a couple by appearing together at the beach volleyball on Horse Guards Parade. They subsequently got engaged at Christmas 2014.

Last week, Great Britain Cycling Team technical director Shane Sutton criticised Katie Archibald as it emerged that the crash before Christmas that has put her participation in this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio in doubt was due to a motorcycle crash.

She had first revealed details of her injuries – a broken elbow and ruptured anterior cruciate ligament – in a column in Scottish newspaper The Herald, but did not disclose how they came about.

Sutton said it was “crazy” and a “really bad choice” that Archibald, who has become a key member of the women’s team pursuit squad, would choose to ride a motorbike in the rain that close to the Olympics.

But Trott, quoted on Sky Sports, insisted that it was important for riders to have interests away from sport.

She said: “We have got to have a life outside of cycling. If you get so wrapped up in just being here [the Manchester Velodrome], all you would do is ride around in circles and sit on a sofa all day. I don't think you can live a life like that.

"We wanted her in the team. It would have been great to have had her at this World Championships and have what will probably be our Olympic team, and put those riders on the start line.

"She didn't have to ride a motorbike, but if you did everything the way you should do everything, we wouldn't enjoy it,” she added.

Kenny was more forthright in his views on the way some of Britain’s leading track riders are treated.

In an interview with the Telegraph’s Tom Cary, the three-time Olympic gold medallist made it clear that he felt that criticism, such as Sutton’s questioning of the hunger of the country’s track team, was unwarranted.

"Shane says that all the time," he reflected. "And usually when he says that I just think ‘Shut the **** up!’ You know what I mean? We are here because we want to be here. We want to win. And it hurts us enough losing without having someone barking at us."

He continued: “The problem with having a young team is everyone gets treated like kids basically. There is a sort of 'teachers' culture - everyone is scared of the coaches and silly things like that.”

As a track specialist, Kenny has come up through the British Cycling system, though since he is a sprinter rather than endurance rider he hasn’t had the opportunities open to others, including Trott, to develop their careers on the road.

Mark Cavendish and Sir Bradley Wiggins, both aiming for places in the endurance squad at Rio, are two riders whose early success came on the track but developed successful road careers and Kenny said that their presence in the current track squad had improved the situation.

“When you have the likes of Cav and Brad back, who are obviously massive and bigger than anyone in the office, then it kind of swings it back to the riders. It kind of gives you a bit more confidence, a bit more swagger,” he added.

Their comments come as Great Britain’s track cyclists head back to the scene of one of their greatest triumphs this weekend with the world championships taking place at the Lee Valley Velodrome, where four years ago they were dominant at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

That came four years after a similarly impressive performance at Beijing, but in the intervening years, other countries have caught up, and in some cases surpassed Great Britain, with Germany and France in the sprints, and Australia in particular in endurance races, likely to provide stern opposition in the coming days.

How Great Britain emerges from a home world championships may not provide a definitive barometer of the performance in Rio – but it should be a strong indicator of the events in which the country can aim for medals this summer.

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.

Add new comment

19 comments

Avatar
Ghisallo | 8 years ago
0 likes

It's very interesting the way any sign of an elite athlete being anything less than an Ubermensch brings out catcalls of derision.

Avatar
spin sugar | 8 years ago
2 likes

Not the first time these two have been caught saying this sort of thing to the press.

I doubt anyone, even Shane Sutton, is going to say you can't be interested in anything but cycling but come on - in an Olympic year, just before the Worlds, you're a very strong rider but in a very competitive squad of women...this is bonkers behaviour. I'd be desperate to rain down all hell and fury on Katie Archibald if I was in charge. And the Aussies are going to be enjoying this now their endurance squads are more competitive again. 

It's not unique to cycling. It's the same in rowing and plenty of other sports- you'd get your ass kicked by your boss taking risks with your body like that. 

There's an important point in here however about looking after riders' mental health. BC was all over that around the time of the last Olympics. 

Avatar
Smoggysteve | 8 years ago
1 like

"As a track specialist, Kenny has come up through the British Cycling system, though since he is a sprinter rather than endurance rider he hasn’t had the opportunities open to others, including Trott, to develop their careers on the road. "

Yeah cos sprinters never make the leap from track to road cycling with any success.

Has hardly dented Mark Cavendish's career.

Avatar
Danger Dicko replied to Smoggysteve | 8 years ago
4 likes

Smoggysteve wrote:

"As a track specialist, Kenny has come up through the British Cycling system, though since he is a sprinter rather than endurance rider he hasn’t had the opportunities open to others, including Trott, to develop their careers on the road. " Yeah cos sprinters never make the leap from track to road cycling with any success. Has hardly dented Mark Cavendish's career.

 

Cav was never a track sprinter.

Avatar
Chris James replied to Smoggysteve | 8 years ago
2 likes

Smoggysteve wrote:

"As a track specialist, Kenny has come up through the British Cycling system, though since he is a sprinter rather than endurance rider he hasn’t had the opportunities open to others, including Trott, to develop their careers on the road. " Yeah cos sprinters never make the leap from track to road cycling with any success. Has hardly dented Mark Cavendish's career.

Mark Cavendish is a track endurance rider, not a track sprinter. They are totally incompatible with each other. If not doing track then Jason would probbaly be physically suited to BMX or something, not road riding.

Avatar
HarrogateSpa | 8 years ago
0 likes

growing fat off the gravy that comes from winning Olympic gold

I can't believe what I'm reading. Chris Hoy is getting lots of publicity for his children's book because of his sheer talent as a writer.

Avatar
bigblue | 8 years ago
6 likes

Some crazy comments. These people dedicate themselves to a degree that's almost un-understandable to most. I think the sentiment was that having some interests outside cycling are a must to keep you even vaguely healthy (mentally). It's not like they're going out on the lash every weekend. They are human and might want just the occasional little diversion and interests apart from the absolute intensity of training, and perpetually measuring themselves against each other and their competitors abroad.

Avatar
Ginsterdrz | 8 years ago
0 likes

Get on board, focus and dedicate yourself.

Or go on the lash, ride motorbikes and get out of the academy. 

There are 10 more waiting in the wings to take your place. 

Avatar
crazy-legs | 8 years ago
1 like

Meh. Some casual off-the-record chat with a journalist, possibly during/after a formal interview stage has been twisted around a bit, selectively quoted and there you have it, mass dissention in the ranks.

Meaningless without the wider context, just the usual clickbait.

Probably find it was done by a French journalist keen to upset the team in the run up to the Worlds just in case the British are still using wheels that are more round than the French.   3

Avatar
WDG | 8 years ago
0 likes

What an amusing way to annouce your retirement from the Olympic sprint squad...

 

And as for 'She said: “We have got to have a life outside of cycling. If you get so wrapped up in just being here [the Manchester Velodrome], all you would do is ride around in circles and sit on a sofa all day. I don't think you can live a life like that.' - many have made sacrifices that do exactly that.  Short term pain (in this case living to get the medal) versus long term gain (growing fat off the gravy that comes from winning Olympic gold).

Avatar
kitkat replied to WDG | 8 years ago
3 likes

WDG wrote:

growing fat off the gravy that comes from winning Olympic gold

what complete crap, very few Olympic medalists get any real return from those years of dedication & sacrifice

Avatar
Stumps replied to kitkat | 8 years ago
0 likes

kitkat wrote:

WDG wrote:

growing fat off the gravy that comes from winning Olympic gold

what complete crap, very few Olympic medalists get any real return from those years of dedication & sacrifice

 

Strange how things come about. About a month ago i was reading an article about how much athletes get paid compared to other sports people. If your in the top 10 in your field you can earn mega bucks through endorsements and sponsorship but its very little compared to say baseball, US football and the footballers of this world.

Average earnings for an athlete without endorsements etc is roughly £35000 a year however with sponsorship it can rise to well over £100k.

Compared to top sports stars the top athletes earn less but they still get a canny lumper.

Avatar
Sam Alison replied to Stumps | 8 years ago
0 likes
Quote:

Compared to top sports stars the top athletes earn less but they still get a canny lumper.

Don't forget they have 10-15 years earning at that level if they are lucky.

Re. Sprinters. Only track sprinter I can think of who did much as a road rider is Marty Nothstein who had some success on the US crit circuit - would never have made it as a euro pro though.

Avatar
JohnnyRemo replied to Sam Alison | 8 years ago
0 likes

Sam Alison wrote:
Quote:

Compared to top sports stars the top athletes earn less but they still get a canny lumper.

Don't forget they have 10-15 years earning at that level if they are lucky. Re. Sprinters. Only track sprinter I can think of who did much as a road rider is Marty Nothstein who had some success on the US crit circuit - would never have made it as a euro pro though.

 

Former multiple World Sprint Champion Theo Bos has over 30 pro wins since he turned to the road. Going back a bit further one of the greatest ever track sprinters, Patrick Sercu won the TdF Green Jersey among his many road wins. He also won KBK and had a number of top ten finishes in the Ronde and other Belgian classics.

They are the exceptions, though.

Avatar
JohnnyRemo | 8 years ago
0 likes

Double post

Avatar
JohnnyRemo | 8 years ago
3 likes

Not the first time the bullying culture in the GB system has been alluded to...

Avatar
HarrogateSpa | 8 years ago
1 like

Yes, maybe mention it to the coaches directly, not journalists.

Avatar
Simon E replied to HarrogateSpa | 8 years ago
2 likes

HarrogateSpa wrote:

Yes, maybe mention it to the coaches directly, not journalists.

Ha! Easier said than done. Have you ever been in a similarly difficult position? From your comments I'd say probably not.

Ginsterdrz wrote:

Get on board, focus and dedicate yourself.

Or go on the lash, ride motorbikes and get out of the academy. 

There are 10 more waiting in the wings to take your place. 

Oh, if only everyone's life was as simple as yours...

As happens so often, it's all to easy to throw stones, rather than stop and think. Are athletes not allowed opinions now? Do you all prefer 2-D cutouts and platitudes to real people? You're happy to hold forth on here but someone at the top of their sport can't say anything without it being twisted into meaning something else.

Avatar
HalfWheeler | 8 years ago
1 like

Maybe he's right, bit unwise to say it in public.

Latest Comments