Sexist behaviour has been exposed at the top of British cycling after the sport’s governing body upheld complaints made by Jess Varnish against the former technical director Shane Sutton of “inappropriate and discriminatory language”.
Varnish had claimed that Sutton had told her to “go and have a baby” and called the 25-year-old “too old” to compete after she failed to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games this year. Sutton was later suspended following another set of allegations; that he had described Paralympic athletes as “wobblies” and “gimps”. He resigned from his role, the most senior in British Cycling, 100 days before the Olympics started.
An internal investigation into Varnish’s claims reported back on Friday. In a statement, British Cycling said: “Following an internal investigation, the British Cycling board has upheld an allegation made by Jess Varnish that former technical director Shane Sutton had used inappropriate and discriminatory language. The board wishes to put on record its sincere regret that this happened.”
An acrimonious and public dispute began after Varnish failed to qualify for Rio and had her contract on the Olympic podium programme cancelled. She claimed to have learned of her absence from the team only after Sutton gave an interview about the selection to the Daily Telegraph. Varnish, who has won medals at the Commonwealth Games and European and world championships, then made her allegations in another interview, this time with the Daily Mail.
She alleged that in a conversation following the cancellation of her contract, Sutton told her to “just move on and go and have a baby”. She also claimed that this was not the first time Sutton had made such remarks. “After 2012 I was told that ‘with an ass like mine I couldn’t change position within the team sprint’,” Varnish also told the Mail. “It basically implies the stronger woman has to go in ‘man one’ position because I’m quite glute dominant, shall we say.” At the time Sutton strongly denied making the comments.
Varnish was supported in her claims by the former Olympic and world road-race champion Nicole Cooke and the double Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton. She said that others who might vindicate her claims were afraid to speak out. “I am aware that some people at British Cycling are afraid to come forward due to the culture of fear that exists, as they don’t want to lose their jobs,” Varnish said in a statement on her website.
Varnish’s claims were later joined by those of the Paralympian Darren Kenny, who also alleged insulting language on the part of Sutton. “The term used to refer to us was generally ‘gimps’ with another word in front of that,” Kenny told the Daily Mail. Another source told the paper: “They were referred to as wobblies. It was an in‑joke used to describe para-cyclists.”
After the verdict, Varnish released a statement on her website. It read: “I spoke out because I wanted to shine a light on the culture at British Cycling, a culture that in my mind was incorrect. I’m relieved that the British Cycling board have acknowledged that the language used towards me was inappropriate and discriminatory and I would like to thank those involved and those that contributed to the investigation for their time and effort.
“I’ve always believed in standing up for yourself, especially when you know things are wrong. It wasn’t easy for me to talk about this experience and I could’ve quite easily said and done nothing, but that isn’t me. I’ve always given 100% to my sport, and am still in love with cycling, so I hope that British Cycling can use this investigation as a way to improve and create a better environment for the Great Britain team.”
Sutton has yet to comment on the decision, though his wife Abbie tweeted on Friday evening: “Two words spring to mind when the word liar is used #jessvarnish #neverhappened #watchthisspace.”
This is a turbulent time for British Cycling, which as well as having to replace its head coach – Sara Symington is widely expected to take over from Sutton – is also losing its long-standing chief executive Ian Drake in April after he announced his resignation from the post this month. It was also announced on Friday that the governing body will be asked to explain the use of therapeutic use exemptions at a parliamentary hearing, which is expected to take place in December.
“The findings of the investigation will help the development of the organisation alongside the independent review into the culture of the World Class Programme, jointly commissioned by British Cycling and UK Sport, and led by Annamarie Phelps,” the British Cycling statement said.
