Shane Sutton suspended by British Cycling over discrimination allegations against female and Paralympic riders

BRITISH Cycling have suspended Australian technical director Shane Sutton following allegations of discrimination against female and Paralympic cyclists.

Shane Sutton has been a key player in Britain's recent success in international cycling.

British Cycling have suspended Australian technical director Shane Sutton and will form an independent review of their performance programs following allegations of discrimination by rider Jess Varnish, the governing body has announced.

The decision came after further allegations made in the UK press that Sutton also made derogatory comments about riders in the British Paralympic program.

Sutton, 58, denies all the allegations levelled at him.

Speaking to the The Daily Mail newspaper in the UK, six-time Paralympic Games gold medallist Darren Kenny claimed he overheard the alleged comments from Sutton.

“The attitude towards them was abysmal. We were tolerated at best,” Kenny said. “The term used to refer to us was generally “gimps”, with another word in front of that. I know others had an issue as well with not being allowed on the track and not being given time to prepare for competitions.

“I don’t think we were ever considered to be elite athletes, in all honesty, by certain people and since I’ve left I’ve not seen or heard of any change towards equality.”

The same Daily Mail article also quoted an anonymous source “who worked closely with Sutton” who claimed the Australian allegedly used derogatory terms in reference to the Paralympians.

“They were referred to as wobblies. It was an in-joke used to describe para-cyclists but it’s not politically correct, clearly. I think that they did know about it,” the source claimed.

Sutton helped orchestrate a hugely successful home Olympics for British Cycling.

Varnish, a former European champion in the team sprint, was dropped from the British Cycling performance squad after she failed to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at this year’s world championships in London.

The 25-year-old and Katy Marchant had needed to better France by three places at the worlds to make Rio, which they failed to do, prompting Varnish to blame mistakes by British Cycling’s coaches. She has since hit out at British Cycling’s technical director Sutton and accused him of making sexist remarks, including one exchange in which he allegedly told her she was too old for the program and should “go and have a baby” instead.

In a statement, Varnish claimed other people had experienced similar behaviour and said “a culture of fear” existed at British Cycling.

“I remain open to sharing my experiences with both British Cycling and/or UK Sport, and will happily engage with any investigations into the comments that Shane Sutton has made to me, and other riders,” she said.

The governing body said it would set up an independent review and that it was “fully committed to the principles and active promotion of equality of opportunity and we must take any such allegations seriously”.

Jess Varnish (r) claims Shane Sutton told her to “go and have a baby.”

In a later statement, it added: “Following the announcement of an independent review into British Cycling’s performance programs, 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.”

The terms of the review, conducted in conjunction with UK Sport, are yet to be announced.

Sutton became part of the British Cycling program in 2002 and was a key coach and architect of a resurgence in the nation’s fortunes both on the track and on the road. Britain won seven track gold medals at both the 2008 Beijing and London 2012 Olympics.

Sutton became technical director when Sir Dave Brailsford — the lead force in Team Sky’s successful recent assaults on the Tour de France — stepped down after a decade in the post.

With 100 days to go until the start of the Rio Olympics, Britain’s preparations have as a result of the developing controversy been thrown in to confusion, with Sutton provisionally due to take the lead role on performance in Brazil.

Originally published as Shane Sutton suspended by British Cycling over discrimination allegations against female and Paralympic riders