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| Brailsford and Sutton |
Sir Dave Brailsford has pledged to share his knowledge of the workings of British Cycling with the independent review established to investigate claims of bullying and discrimination within the organisation.
British Cycling and UK Sport last Friday announced Annamarie Phelps, the chair of British Rowing, will lead the review, which follows allegations made towards former British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton. He denies the claims.
Sutton, who resigned last Wednesday with 100 days to go to the Rio Olympics, in April 2014 succeeded Brailsford as the British Cycling figurehead, having previously worked as Brailsford’s chief lieutenant.
“It’s really good that this inquiry has been brought in, so we can establish the truth,” Brailsford told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday.
“I’m not going to go into the details. What I will do is I’ll share everything that I know with that inquiry.
“We need to get to the bottom of [the allegations]. They need to be heard, they need to be documented properly and addressed properly.”
Britain won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and again four years later at London 2012, when Sutton was head coach and Brailsford was performance director.
Brailsford, the Team Sky principal, added: “The British Cycling model wasn’t based around motivation through fear or performance through fear.
“It was all around an athlete centred model. We had a forensic psychiatrist [professor Steve Peters], who was absolutely brilliant, that was in that programme.
“We ran a model which was very much about ownership and trying to give the riders as much ownership as possible over their careers.
"You can’t get performance on a continuous basis over a long period of time through fear. I just don’t believe it.
“When you’re in a leadership position like that you have a responsibility to athletes and the care of athletes, more than anything else. And the welfare of those athletes.
“And of course you’re going to push hard in those environments, but I’ll always be open to learn anything I can.”
Brailsford was not asked about Sutton’s continued employment by Team Sky. Sutton left his role as Team Sky head coach in January 2013, but continues to be employed in an advisory role. British Cycling was unaware of the position, but had no concerns with Sutton’s work for them.
Brailsford pointed to the gender inequalities in cycling as a whole and the creation of gender parity in the Olympic track programme.
In Beijing in 2008 there were seven male events and three for women. At London 2012 there were five events for each gender. He spoke of his own hopes for his 11-year-old daughter, Milly.
Brailsford, who also mentioned the successes of British female riders during his tenure, added: “I want her to get into sport and if she gets into sport, I want her to have the same opportunities as the guys in her class, the same opportunities to earn the same money. You’ve got to move forward and think about those aspects too.”
The independent review is one of three ongoing investigations at British Cycling.
Sutton was suspended by British Cycling on 26 April after it was claimed he called Paralympic cyclists “gimps”, shortly after the independent review was announced into claims of sexism made by Jess Varnish.
An investigation into Sutton’s behaviour is one of two further internal inquiries at British Cycling. The other is into claims high-performance kit has been sold on for profit.
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