shane sutton - hardman or heinous? independent review

Rodrego Hernandez

dish_dash wrote:

Especially if they are millennials apparently... another quote from the piece:

British Cycling employs 28 coaches, 20 of whom are dedicated to younger “pathway” riders. They feed the index by creating in-depth profiles of each cyclist, logging physiological changes, such as improvements in strength; performance indicators, such as increases in speed and finish times; and qualities that are harder to quantify, like whether riders show “grit”, “relish a battle” and “bounce back after setbacks”. This information produces a “playbook” for riders; specific targets to hit from pedalling power to muscle size.

Every three months, British Cycling assesses each rider. Anyone not en route to a medal faces being cut. Yates says the data don’t just act as a selection tool but also as a motivational device. “Millennials crave a lot more buy-in,” says Yates. “If you go back 10 or 12 years, that cohort of young people were quite happy to be told what to do and would do it. And now, they ask, ‘Why do I need to do this?’” The organisation has gathered the answers to these questions. Or as Truman says, he knows the process to getting faster.

But I wonder how much of the process outlined was followed in relation to Jess Varnish and being dropped...

Wasn't she told that her numbers weren't good enough and she had to put the work in and improve them, then at the worlds was riding all the Olympic kit (unlike the rest of the team) and still finished below expectations?

Their selection and monitoring is a bit 'big brother' like but they are on results based funding so would have to justify sending someone who finished 5th? at the worlds even though they had evidence that the athlete wasn't good enough.

blazing_saddles

Forget three months, Jess had six years as a senior in which to deliver the goods.
Her International record reads one European bronze, one Commonwealth bronze and two WC podiums in the sprint.
Nothing in the Keirin.
En route to a Rio medal?
Becky or Katy's seat on the plane?

r0bh

"Of 9 allegations Varnish made against Sutton, only 1 was upheld; that he used the term "bitches". 8 others rejected"

https://twitter.com/danroan/status/806591270147788800

RichN95.

r0bh wrote:

"Of 9 allegations Varnish made against Sutton, only 1 was upheld; that he used the term "bitches". 8 others rejected"

https://twitter.com/danroan/status/806591270147788800

Almost nine 'no problems', but the b1tch ain't one.

iainf72

That's pretty astonishing.

RichN95.

iainf72 wrote:

That's pretty astonishing.

There was worse in the Wiggins/Cavendish Gent press conference.

Richmond Racer 2

Well colour me surprised

salsiccia1

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Well colour me surprised

That he's not the misogynistic bumhole he's been made out to be, or that they didn't believe Jess V?

Richmond Racer 2

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Well colour me surprised

That he's not the misogynistic bumhole he's been made out to be, or that they didn't believe Jess V?

Neither. RR sarcasm. I made it clear from the outset my view on the veracity of her claims

RichN95.

Jesse Pinkman's position at Heisenberg Chemical must now be untenable.

blazing_saddles

I can guess after when and where the bitches call was made, too.
They really earned that one.
I'd say the review got it spot on.
Yet, here we are, sans Shane.
What it is to live in the "modern" World.........

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Well colour me surprised

That he's not the misogynistic bumhole he's been made out to be, or that they didn't believe Jess V?

Neither. RR sarcasm. I made it clear from the outset my view on the veracity of her claims

Aye, but apparently the Daily Fail knew best for some..........................and probably still does.

Richmond Racer 2

^yes on all points, Saddles

kingrollo

Sad that he was forced to resign - whatever happened to innocent until proved guilty.

The whole case is daft. If your competing at that level - its going to get stressful and people say things in the heat of the moment. What kind of a person hires a lawyer over that

bobmcstuff

Rick Chasey wrote:

Grim isn't it?

I could just about get on board with the Frankenstein science of blood, bone and muscle, but christ.

Most people want to get away from that sh!t when they watch sport.

I don't think you need to pay any attention to the readiness index to watch sport.

vinnymarsden

I thought all along that JV was clouding the fact that she simply didnt, in the opinion of SS, "cut it" for the level she was aiming for.What went on, what was said, allegedly said, all appears to be a smokescreen for 2 people that simply came to an unworkable impasse in their professional relationship..and JV, took the option of making claims, which, now, look spurious to say the least.Is it that the board didn't think what SS had done was so bad, or did they simply not believe her.
I think allegations about who said this that or the other are notoriously difficult to prove unless you have corroborating evidence from another witness, preferably independent, or some audio/visual medium that nails it on.Otherwise its simply one word against another.
I find it difficult to comprehend though, that in a VERY driven atmosphere like British Cycling, and more than likely all other mainstream sporting arenas that a somewhat harsh, tough, sometimes draconian mentality, approach to training etc is not commonplace.I don't think there is room for pleasantries and talking about your feelings.
I am not for one minute advocating, bullying, name calling or any other outdated, archaic methods of "motivating" anyone, however, I think I have said this before, deep down where JV probably didn't/doesn't want to look, maybe she simply wasn't good enough, and putting aside the delivery of that message by SS to her personally, no athlete likes to be told they aren't up to it, but does it mean we need a "special intervention" team to let down the unselected athletes gently, or do we carry on as we are, producing gold medal athletes aplenty, and accept that along the way there are going to be "casualties" male or female, the gender is not an issue in my opinion.You are either good enough or not good enough.
I'm sure Sir Alex Ferguson used more colourful language, and was maybe somewhat industrial if he needed a player/prospect to actually understand they hadn't got it.But SAF has a best selling book about Success, motivation and management, maybe British Cycling need SAF onboard to discuss where the line is, and how not to cross it!

poppit

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about/article/20161223-about-bc-news-Stephen-Park-appointed-British-Cycling-performance-director-0

blazing_saddles

poppit wrote:

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about/article/20161223-about-bc-news-Stephen-Park-appointed-British-Cycling-performance-director-0

Shiver me timbers.
Just the bloke to go down with the ship.

de_sisti

DeVlaeminck

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/ ... sh-cycling

Some interesting points here regarding Sutton and sexism within BC.

DeVlaeminck

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/38413852

Surprised this didn't get a mention on here

Stridor

I saw the tweets from Charly Wegelius about it. It's obvious that Charly has a lot of repect for Ken, and seemed quite sad about the situation.

dish_dash

In the nicest possible way, remind me how many races Charly won?

Stridor

You've completely lost me on that line of questioning. It's never nice to see anyone being brought so low by work related stresses. That's what Wegelius was remarking on. I thought it was rather humane of him to comment. To me, it demonstrates empathy, and that he has an ability to see beyond the winning at all costs attitude that is so often part of professional sports. In this context Charly's win rate is immaterial.