British Cycling has suspended technical director Shane Sutton as it investigates allegations of sexual discrimination made against him, and the governing body.
Its action follows track sprinter Jessica Varnish’s claims that there is a “culture of fear” surrounding women riding for the national team and subsequent claims that he referred to para-cyclists as ‘gimps’ and ‘wobblies’.
In a statement released early on Wednesday morning, British Cycling said:
Following the announcement of an independent review into British Cycling’s performance programmes, we are also announcing technical director Shane Sutton has been suspended pending an internal investigation into the allegations of discrimination that have been reported in the press.
Varnish has been supported by former world and Olympic champions Victoria Pendleton and Nicole Cooke, among others.
Sutton’s suspension comes with less than four months to go to the Rio Olympics.
14 thoughts on “British Cycling suspends Shane Sutton over sexism claims”
Reading the Telegraph website
Reading the Telegraph website it seems he was calling the para-cyclists ‘gimps’ with another word in front, any guesses what that word might be? So if all these allegations are true then he should be out on his arse regardless of the risk to the medal haul in Rio.
Having never met the guy and only read about him he does seem a bit ‘Marmite’ or should that be ‘Vegemite’ being an Aussie. I would guess we can’t have our athletes thinking they are above everyone else, I’m sure some of them could be proper prima donna’s but also they do need the correct mental approach from the coaching team to get their full potential from them.
Having been in Brazil with work for the last year I’ll be amazed that everything is ready for the Games, it appears to be one of the most corrupt and disorganized countries I’ve had the pleasure of working in.
Given the accusations flying
Given the accusations flying around this is a good move. I expect the BC investigation will not only look at Suttons role but others within BC which has lead to this situation. A person may be the figurehead of an incident but there are others who will have turned a blind eye & failed to act
I think an investigation into BC policy of limiting riders ability to compete in their countries colours needs to be shared publicly. The seeming blocking of riders (even when self funded) from competing against the rest of the world flies in the face of our country’s proud tradition of taking on the odds and actually pulling out a surprise success.
That riders who are dedicating the best years of their life for their sport & country to be denied that opportunity for seemingly murky & discriminatory reasons from BC is not acceptable.
Guardian says he was
Guardian says he was suspended for allegedly making discriminatory remarks about paralympians:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/apr/27/british-cycling-crisis-shane-sutton-alleged-paralympians-remarks
Mind boggling.
In the 6 years I worked at BC
In the 6 years I worked at BC and alot were with SS, the words “gimps” “wobblies” and “shit kickers” were used on a daily basis…….. not saying by who……..
Good. Hope there’s a decent
Good. Hope there’s a decent review to follow…
While Sutton gets hung out to
While Sutton gets hung out to dry – probably rightly, if the evidence is correct – you have to question the culture of BC, that thought he was the right man for the job, and which apparently permitted bullying, discrimination and a fear of speaking out.
And Cooke is correct that the UCI also promotes sexist attitudes.
The Grauniad reckons that his
The Grauniad reckons that his suspension has finally been put in place because of his (alleged) comments about paralympians, rather than because of any (alleged) sexism.
brooksby wrote:
There are suggestions within the BMX community he may be guilty of another ism – take a look at the faces of the Team GB riders then look at the faces of the World no3 BMX rider, also from the UK
The culture within BC isn’t
The culture within BC isn’t great going by what I heard directly from a leading rider.
I’m still not happy with the way BC is only allowing two riders to compete in the Worlds in BMX rather than letting Tre White and Quillan Isidore go as well.
As always there are 3 sides
As always there are 3 sides to every story.
However it doesn’t look good on either SS or BC.
I hope an independent body is
I hope an independent body is used to investigate. No idea who that should be but to get to the truth and to make sure that BC go forward positively it needs to be independent. IMHO independent of sport all together.
Sutton is the man BC have as
Sutton is the man BC have as coach because they believe his outdated, sexist and abusive manner is how a head coach should operate.
He has worked within the organisation for many years, they knew what they were getting. He is a reflection of the management of BC and their old fashioned male centric view of competitive cycling. Until they become more inclusive then Women and Parariders will always be second class in BC.
That goes right down to the grassroots and doesn’t just apply to elite level cycling.
Carlosfoznango wrote:
I think this comment is right on the money although I think the casual sexism is probably something that came with hiring someone with 1950’s training techniques rather than a deliberate choice.
What is mind blowing is that in a new era of science and marginal gains that sports psychology has not moved on from shouting at people… having Steve Peters and Shane Sutton together seems a little incongruous.
According to Jessica Varnish,
According to Jessica Varnish, Sutton stated in the Telegraph that she was ’too old’ and ‘not worth wasting UK Sport’s money’ .
She’s 25! Age related performance for male and female cyclists reveal his statement as wrong and bigoted.