There has been recent uproar in the media regarding well known triathlon coach, Brett Sutton’s appearance at the Paris Olympics where he had accreditation as a coach to the Chinese Triathlon Team.
Sutton took up the role of Head Coach to the Chinese Triathlon Team in 2022.
He has been coaching many of the world’s leading triathletes over the years that triathlon has been an Olympic sport in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics. In fact, it was in the run up to those games that he was convicted of child sexual abuse due to his conduct towards a girl he was coaching who was under the age of 15 years back in the 1980s. His victim came forward some ten years later to report the abuse.
The judge, despite saying that Sutton had 'interfered with her sexually in a gross and disgraceful way' and 'abused [his] role to an inexcusable degree' passed down a mere two-year sentence which was suspended because 'a large number of leading athletes will suffer disadvantage from your absence from the scene'. In effect, the judge did not want Sutton to go to jail and cost Australia any Olympic medals.
Since 2000, Sutton has coached triathletes that have participated in the Athens, Beijing, London, Rio, Tokyo and Paris Games. These have included 2 x Olympic Champions, Nicola Spirig, and Emma Snowsill, and 3 x Olympic Silver Medallists, Julie Derron, Loretta Harrop and Nicola Spirig.
So, given that the offence took place some 40 years ago and Sutton has continued to coach over this time, albeit publicly stating that he would not work with anyone under the age of 16 years, why has his appearance become an issue in Paris?
The main issue is that he gained accreditation as part of the Chinese Olympic Team as the coach of their triathlon team which consisted of one triathlete Xinyu Lin who finished 28th in the women’s race. Unlike the previous six Olympics where Sutton would have been in town to support the triathletes he coached; this was probably the first time had official accreditation.
I will state here that I am not a fan of Brett Sutton, even though I recognise he has been a highly successful coach. I had to manage the issue of him coaching some of our senior elite British triathletes whilst CEO of British Triathlon. Around 2006, I had to intervene when a well-intentioned person in the sport invited Sutton to come to England to conduct a coaching clinic. To give Sutton some credit, he quickly withdrew himself from the clinic when his attendance was challenged.
Apart from the conviction, what made me uncomfortable with Sutton was his reported coaching style. I am strong believer that a positive athlete centred coaching style is good coaching and could never ascribe to his reported approach.
Leanda Cave, one of the senior elite British triathletes who won the Olympic Distance World Triathlon Championships in 2002 reflecting after a move to a new coach had this to say about Sutton. “Brett could be a real hard-ass and he used different psychology—not the positive reinforcement, but the negative reinforcement, I was always under the belief that I was not good enough under Brett.” Leanda had found a better, more positive, style of coaching under Siri Lindley, who was ironically a protégé of Brett Sutton.
Whilst I understand the outcry that persons with convictions for child sexual offences should not be entitled to Olympic Games recognition as athletes or coaches, I remain uncomfortable that we do not have regulations that guide such decisions. In Sutton’s case, the offence occurred over 40 years ago, the conviction some 30 years ago, and there is no suggestion of recidivism. This leads me to ask the question, is there a point in time when an athlete or coach can be allowed to return to their sport, or does this crime merit a lifetime ban?
In Sutton’s case, he has been able to continue coaching by operating outside the jurisdiction of sport but within the law. If he had been a team coach this would have been almost impossible, but as a coach in an individual sport, with adult athletes choosing to work with him, he has been able to build a formidable coaching business and has impacted on the success of many triathletes at the highest levels of competition.
Safe Sport International has recently called for discussion around forming an International Framework on Athlete Representation Following Abuse-Related Convictions, and/or Safeguarding Investigations. This is a discussion that needs to also consider coaches or others working in sport. We need to decide the parameters for the return, or not, of those with child sexual abuse convictions to sport rather than continue this uncomfortable situation we have today.
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