Jess Varnish lawyers say British Cycling has 'learnt nothing' from recent controversies
Jess Varnish's lawyers say British Cycling has "learnt nothing" from its ongoing controversies, accusing cycling's national governing body of a complete lack of transparency over its handling of the internal inquiry into her bullying claims.
Varnish, the former track sprinter, accused then technical director Shane Sutton of sexism and bullying last April, eventually leading his resignation.
An internal inquiry was carried out which initially "upheld" Varnish's complaint, only for it to emerge in December that Sutton had in fact been cleared of eight of the nine charges against him.
That left both parties upset and demanding to see the full report. Varnish's lawyers also asked to see all of her performance data and every text and email message sent about her by British Cycling staff.
Three months on, Varnish's lawyers say they now have now received a heavily redacted copy of the report, which is difficult to make any sense of. But in any case they are unable to reveal its contents as they are bound by a gagging order.
"It took a long time to get anything and now that we have got it it is heavily redacted," Simon Fenton, a parnter at Irwin Mitchell LLP, told Telegraph Sport.
"I'm not sure whether it is the full report but if it is, it is pretty thin. And they’ve basically forbidden us from sharing it anyway. If they were serious about transparency they would have nothing to hide. It suggests that nothing has really changed [in terms of culture].
"From what we can make out, though, nothing changes our belief that Jess was dismissed for reasons that were nothing whatsoever to do with performance."
Varnish, 25, believes her contract was not renewed because she criticised coaches at last March's world track championships. She is still hopeful that she will be able to return to the elite performance programme in the future.
British Cycling said the contributions to the internal inquiry were made anonymously and it therefore had an obligation to protect those who came forward with evidence.
A statement on Tuesday night read: “British Cycling can confirm it has complied with a subject access request from Jess Varnish. The request was made by Jess following an investigation by the British Cycling board which upheld an allegation made by her that former technical director Shane Sutton had used inappropriate and discriminatory language.
"The board put on record its sincere regret that this happened and are committed to ensuring the findings of the investigation will help the development of the organisation alongside the independent review into the culture of the World Class Programme.”
British Cycling's new chairman, Jonathan Browing, and the UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl, will on Wednesday give athletes in Manchester an update on the independent inquiry looking into the culture at British Cycling, and talk about what lessons they can learn moving forward. A similar presentation will be given to journalists on Thursday.
How the Shane Sutton row unfolded
