NEW British Cycling boss Stephen Park has claimed allegations of bullying within the sport have been “sensationalised” and are “not representative of the whole programme”.
Wendy Houvenaghel was the latest to allege this week that she was discriminated against by former performance director Sir Dave Brailsford and former technical director Shane Sutton. The Northern Irish rider accused the organisation of ageism and sexism, adding that coaches had “zero regard” for her welfare and that she felt “oppressed”.
Jess Varnish has also spoken out about alleged bullying and sexism and the fall-out resulted in the resignation of Sutton last April.
A report into the “culture and climate” of the GB cycling team is also imminent, pending the completion of a long and highly-charged legal process.
Park was appointed as British Cycling’s new performance director in December and, despite the ongoing crisis, he started his new role by playing down the scale of situation.
The Scot, who was previously the Royal Yachting Association’s Olympic manager said: “A lot of the things being raised in the various reviews and reports, there is already a lot of work being done to address a lot of the concerns; to improve the governance and organisational structure. That journey has already begun.
“Also, because I knew from the conversations I had had with riders I had met – at the Olympics or in previous visits, and from coaching staff and support staff – that some of the things that were coming out [the bullying allegations] were not representative of the whole programme.
“They may or may not have been representative of one or two people’s individual experiences within the programme – and of course that doesn’t make it all right – but they weren’t representative across the programmes.
“There’s almost a desire at the moment to sensationalise and hang people out to dry and I find some of that quite disappointing, actually.”
Park, who spent 15 years in his previous post, during which time Britain’s sailors won 23 Olympic and Paralympic medals, says he was not tempted to call off his switch of sports.
He said: “Of course it [the independent review into the culture at British Cycling] was going on through the tail end of the interview process but they [the panel] hadn’t come to any conclusions prior to my appointment.
“So was it on my mind? Of course. It was and it is. But I suppose I see all that as being a great opportunity.”
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