An 'obsession' with beating Great Britain's London Olympic tally in Rio may have led UK Sport to overlook deepening issues within British Cycling's high performance programme that culminated in an independent investigation following Jess Varnish's allegations of sexism and bullying.
The independent report, partially leaked last week, revealed that a 'culture of fear' in British Cycling had been left to fester for years.
"Since the late 2000s cracks, in terms of the climate and culture, have been present," the draft report noted. "Instead of being repaired as they should have been, those cracks were ignored in pursuit of medal success."
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The Guardian reports today that UK Sport, which should have steered British Cycling to correct the problems, went easy on them instead because cycling, specifically track cycling, was the country's top medal earner in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games (14 and 12 medals, respectively).
Sources within UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport described to the Guardian a UK Sport performance department under director Simon Timson and deputy director Chelsea Warr that was obsessed with beating the London medal count in Rio. Because cycling was so crucial to that goal, they felt compelled to tread lightly.
"With cycling, the UK Sport governance team felt they couldn't ever go firm on them on any issue because they would come under pressure from the performance guys if they started poking around too much," a senior official said. "No one wanted to disrupt the medal factory. It had the status of a special sport."
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