The last vestiges of British Cycling’s reputation appeared to be ripped to shreds last night by an independent review that accused it of allowing a “culture of fear”, with riders and staff bullied and a “dysfunctional leadership” allowed to flourish. A draft copy of the unpublished UK Sport review into the culture of British Cycling, leaked to the Daily Mail, is also damning about Sir Dave Brailsford and Shane Sutton, two of the key cogs behind the organisation’s success for over a decade.
Brailsford is described as an “untouchable” figure who took decisions about the multi-million-pound budget himself while Sutton, who was technical director of British Cycling until resigning last year, was said to be totally unsuitable for a leadership role. When he left, Sutton was also placed “on garden-leave at a level of salary which was higher than had he remained”.
The review allegedly finds that the British Cycling board not only “sanitised” the report into Jess Varnish’s allegations of discrimination against Sutton but reversed the findings of its own grievance officer. Varnish’s claims that Sutton told her to “get on with having a baby” after she was released from the elite programme months before the Olympic Games in Rio were largely dismissed by an internal investigation which upheld only one of nine charges against Sutton last year.
However, an independent UK Sport panel, led by the British Rowing chair Annamarie Phelps, has reportedly found that British Cycling’s grievance officer, Alex Russell, had originally found “considerably more” of Varnish’s claims had been proven, but these “harder-hitting investigative findings” were not included in the final version.
“As a result,” the review states, “it appears that not only did the British Cycling board not accept the findings of its grievance officer, it reversed them. The actions of the British Cycling board in that regard are shocking and inexcusable. They also call into serious question whether the composition of the British Cycling board is fit to govern a national sporting body.”According to the report, some leading cyclists have also “experienced trauma” because of a programme “characterised by fear and bullying from leadership figures”. It also suggests that UK Sport did not monitor the sport in “any meaningful way” and the cracks in British Cycling were ignored in pursuit of medal success.
In a statement British Cycling said it recognised “specific shortcomings in the governance of the organisation and especially within the World Class Programme” but said that a number of steps had been taken to change its structures and behaviours.
It added: “Despite the fact the board of British Cycling may disagree with the factual accuracy of certain points or commentary in the draft independent review, it has chosen to embrace the recommendations and findings and to use these to continue to develop its operating practices with clear, timed actions.”
