Investigation into shock Olympic cycling failure reveals faults in peak body’s processes, culture

Australian cycling plans to overhaul its technical processes and culture after an investigation found individuals “made it up as they went along” before the Tokyo crash debacle.

Alex Porter fell during Olympic competition after his handlebars failed. Picture: TASS/Getty Images

A failure of technical process inside Australia’s cycling team where individuals “made it up as they went along” has been blamed for a shock bike failure that robbed the squad of a shot at Olympic gold.

AusCycling will overhaul its culture and processes following damning findings from a seven-month investigation into the handlebar breakage on the first night of competition at Tokyo’s Izu Velodrome.

The investigation found there were “multiple opportunities” to detect the deterioration of the base bar before it catastrophically failed and sent team pursuit rider Alex Porter face-first into the track at 65km/h.

The Aussie team won bronze. Picture: Getty Images

It noted inadequate design specifications of the base bar component and a failure to conduct required fatigue testing.

The report was also scathing of the culture and technical process within the Australian Olympic squad.

“While an organisational structure was in place for the Australian Cycling Team, there were scant policies or processes in a technical sense and individuals made it up as they went along,” the report found.

AusCycling CEO Marne Fechner acknowledged the failures within the Tokyo team had caused widespread “anger and frustration”.

“Reading the final report was uncomfortable and at times confronting,” she said.

“We apologise to Alex and his fellow riders, to the Australian Olympic team and the broader Australian public.”

Porter’s fall ruined the gold medal favourites’ chances. Picture: TASS/Getty Images

Immediately following the crash Melbourne manufacturer Bastion Cycles removed the handlebar, worth $4584, from public sale “out of an abundance of caution”.

Australia’s team pursuit men were able to recover and win bronze several days later, however it was a bittersweet moment for the squad which had been considered a gold-medal favourite.

The AusCycling investigation found a push to use the base bar during training for the delayed Tokyo Olympics meant Bastion had to fast-track its manufacturing time from 10 months to just four.

“At the time, the team was working under significant time pressures,” Ms Fechner acknowledged.

“There was a decision made to optimise the opportunity for the boys to train with the base bar on the bike.”

The report found the team failed to conduct recommended fatigue testing and missed several chances to identify the looming break.

Sam Welsford, Lucas Plapp and Kelland O’Brien after their bronze-medal rides. Picture: Getty Images

“In service, on removal, on installation and during handling before and after transit, there were multiple opportunities to detect any Base Bar deterioration, but these opportunities were lost due to the lack of application of extant process and missing checks and balances.”

Ms Fechner pledged to overhaul the organisation’s recruitment processes and transform Australia into the “world’s best cycling nation”.

She said poor processes were three years in the making which “started in early 2018 and culminated in a failure in 2021”.

Ms Fechner declined to nominate one or a handful of people responsible for the failure, declaring it would be “unfair to those people”.

She said AusCycling would accept the 14 recommendations.