Sir Dave Brailsford hits back at claims of bullying and sexism at British Cycling

Hitting back: Sir Dave Brailsford
JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images

Sir Dave Brailsford has jumped to the defence of British Cycling amid claims of bullying and sexism, writes Matt Majendie.

As the publication of an independent review into an alleged culture of bullying at its headquarters in Manchester looms, Brailsford hit back at some of the criticism.

Writing a column in The Times, he said: “Reading some of the more lurid headlines in recent weeks, you could be forgiven for thinking that our Olympic and Paralympic cycling success was forged in a boot camp for bullies and sexists rather than a high-performance environment that nurtured world-class athletes to fulfil their potential.

“We were not sexist, we were medallist. That is what we pushed for an equal number of male and female events so our elite female athletes could have the same maximum chance of success as their male counterparts.”

The review was launched after Jess Varnish, who used to be on the Olympic programme at British Cycling, accused former technical director Shane Sutton of bullying and sexism after she was removed from the programme.

Varnish’s stance led to a flurry of allegations against Sutton and the British Cycling set-up, spawning the review, which is believed to have the potential to make very damaging reading for British Cycling and UK Sport as a whole.

Under Brailsford, the former performance director of British Cycling before his switch to Team Sky, Britain’s track and road cyclists have enjoyed unprecedented success but with claims that has come at the cost of the welfare of some athletes.

But Brailsford added: “Without putting too fine a point on it, 20 years ago Britain was largely an Olympic nation of gallant losers. Today, we take Olympic and Paralympic success for granted.

“So I was and still am an advocate of UK Sport’s ‘no compromise’ ethos. It is a ruthless approach and one that is completely meritocratic. At British Cycling, we fully embraced it.”

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