Freeman case is great theatre but is it a couple of bad apples – or a barrel? | Sean Ingle

18 November 2019 09:00
Neither Shane Sutton nor Dr Richard Freeman comes out well from the GMC tribunal but it invites wider questions about the whole culture of British Cycling and UK SportEveryone who has met Shane Sutton has a story. Here’s one of mine. During a UK Sport planning meeting for the 2016 Olympics, discussions turned to whether British Cycling could win medals in every event in Rio. “We’ve got more chance of the queen farting than us giving you 18 medals,” Sutton replied. Unsurprisingly Sutton also later told me that “all the performance directors were sitting round the table thinking: ‘Shit, he’s a bit blunt.’”You don’t say. So the Australian’s performance at Dr Richard Freeman’s medical tribunal last week – sample line: “You are telling the press I can’t get a hard-on, my wife wants to testify that you are a bloody liar” – before storming out wasn’t exactly a shock, even if it made for jaw-dropping theatre. Related: Shane Sutton ‘constantly’ on Richard Freeman’s case, tribunal hears One wonders what Jess Varnish makes of it all, given she paid a heavy price for calling out Sutton in 2016? Continue readingread full article

Source: TheGuardian