http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/41939678

Seems Bc/sport UK really don’t want this in court.

Very interesting that she’s using employment legislation to pursue this. Will follow with interest.

Seems Bc/sport UK really don’t want this in court.

+1

Good for her.

A British Cycling spokesperson said the organisation was “in an ongoing and positive dialogue with Jess and look forward to reaching a resolution which all parties will regard as equitable”.

that is the funniest PR statement i have ever read in relation to being sued!

I wish her all the best in this case and Hope whoever wrote that represents them in court.

But will she stick it out to make her point or take a payout and potentially NDA?

As BC is publically funded could you request to know the number of ex employees that has signed a NDA, based on the number I know locally I wager there will be a few.

UKSport sound a lovely bunch.

BBC » It is understood funding agency UK Sport had applied for a strike-out order to have her case dismissed, along with a costs order and deposit order, meaning Varnish’s assets would have been frozen pending the case.
Had these been successful she would have been forced to drop her claim.
UKSport sound a lovely bunch.

I’d have chipped in.

Ba$tard$.

Go Jess!

Would it be apt to say I’d like to see Jess vs Shane on a bike.

As I’m all for seeing Jess beat his stinkin ass

Hell hath no fury…….

I’m of the opinion that Jess Varnish is mostly in the right here, but I don’t think she will come out of this 100% the plucky hero.

She does come across as a bit ‘high maintenance’ and displays Geoffrey Boycott levels of grudge-holding.

On the flip side, Sutton comes across as a brash, know it all, “I am right because I’m a straight talking Aussie bloke”, prat.

UK Sport and British Cycling have just done the good old-fashioned formula of cover up as much as possible, move people on and hope it all goes away. Just like churches, schools etc when the accepted method of dealing with sexual predators was to inflict them on someone else.

It’s all pretty unedifying, really.

Puts Liam in a tricky spot when he returns to full time training…

Lots of nda’s signed over the years apparently, if your face doesn’t fit your out.

Hopefully things have changed in the last year.

Good luck Jess.

Lots of nda’s signed over the years apparently, if your face doesn’t fit your out.

It wouldn’t surprise me. The trouble is, when you’re competing against nations who run their sports programmes like a Nietzschian cult where you have to pledge your life to it as an embryo and are then taken out and shot when you don’t make the grade, you have to choose what you want.

Cold, elitist, brutal and successful.

Or

Fluffy, aspirational, rounded and off of the podium.

There are middle grounds to be had, of course, but you get the idea.

P.S. I’m being deliberately un-nuanced to make the point.

Don’t think that anyone will come out of this looking good: BC for it’s lack of decent governance and HR policy in terms of ‘performance’ management. Varnish however had multiple attempts to prove her worth and wasn’t quite the grade needed. Sutton was just your typical old-school Aussie.

Once again its not the decision that will be their undoing. That could be justified. Its the language used and the coverup afterwards

Its the language used and the coverup afterwards

Yes, I’d agree with that.

A tactless Aussie eh? Who’d have thunk it.

An element of that attitude is endemic within the entire organisation. It’s a large part of the reason I’ve cancelled my membership and resigned as a Commissaire.

Not surprised to hear that aP.

The “we know best and how dare you even question us” attitude does seem quite entrenched.

Along with trying to take credit for everything.

If it is deemed that she had employee status I wonder what the wider implications will be for BC athletes?

It will be interesting to see the win mentality in the athlete turned against the blazer classes.

dannyh – Member
…She does come across as a bit ‘high maintenance’ and displays Geoffrey Boycott levels of grudge-holding…

You mean she’s a world class athlete. 🙂

As for Sutton, that’s not straight talking Ozzie bloke stuff, it’s the same prima donna cancer that buggers up much of Australian sport, the has-been boys in blazers and a clipboard.

Ask Dawn Fraser.

Not wanting to go all STW on this thread but labeling her “high maintenance” does smack of causal sexism. Think the trait you’re referring to is pretty common amongs world class athletes. I wonder if we’d apply this tag to someone like Wiggins who was by all accounts very high maintenance.

Anyway it’ll be interesting to see how it does pan out as the employee status probably has far reaching funding consequences.

. Varnish however had multiple attempts to prove her worth and wasn’t quite the grade needed.

That is disputed, she was doing times no other rider on the program now can match. The evidence for poor performance still has not been produced by BC. The failure to qualify for world champs is more down to the selection of younger riders, similar policy that’s blighted the mtb xc

This
“That is disputed, she was doing times no other rider on the program now can match. The evidence for poor performance still has not been produced by BC. The failure to qualify for world champs is more down to the selection of younger riders, similar policy that’s blighted the mtb xc”

As for high maintenance, I’ve spoken to her dad a few times, and he doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who would stand for any of that.