Former Cycling Australia board member Phill Bates has labelled the decision not to renew the contract of Australia women’s track endurance coach Gary Sutton as “a total disgrace”.
Cycling Australia’s coach of the year for 2015-16 will not have his contract renewed when it expires at the end of June after CA took a different direction under new high performance unit director Simon Jones.
Sutton has been coach of the elite women’s endurance squad since 2009, leading his program to a wealth of international success including seven world championships and three Commonwealth Games crowns in a total haul of 70 medals on the world stage.
Jones said while it was a huge shift it was not change for change’s sake.
“We are in a new age of modern sport and the demands of cycling have evolved, so we need to evolve with it,” he said.
“Cycling is more sophisticated than ever before with science, research, development and equipment, all cornerstones of performance and success.
“We believe that by balancing these cornerstones with the people, we will develop a successful and more importantly, a long-term sustainable high performance program as we move towards the Tokyo 2020 Games and beyond.
“Gary Sutton will leave a lasting legacy on the sport, allowing CA to build on this strong foundation as we head into the future.”
But long-term St George Cycling Club president Bates, who is also Sutton’s brother-in-law, was scathing in his assessment of the decision.
“Cycling Australia, controlled by people with very little competitive attributes for the sport of cycling, has chosen someone to head up Australia’s campaign for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and this person has dumped the best qualified coach we have in the country,” he said.
“When I departed the Cycling Australia Board in 2005 we were flourishing, had great direction and gathering incredible success along the way. I was always in admiration of Gary Sutton how he stepped off the bike and became one of the great coaches of world cycling.
“Gary and [brother] Shane Sutton, both champions on the bike, would have been by far a much better choice to guide the fortunes of Australian cycling into the Olympics for many years to come.
“Gary Sutton’s record is without question one of the great achievers in Australian sport. I lost count of how many times he was awarded NSWIS and NSW Sports Federation coach of the year up against all other sports and was also voted at the last national awards as one of the top three coaches of the year. He is without blemish.”
Sutton, a shire local and multiple winner of the Leader Sports Star of the Year award, became a legend at St George Cycling Club. He went on to become one of Australia’s most decorated cyclists setting national records from one-kilometre events to 180km.
He won 45 national titles and represented Australia at two Olympic Games. Sutton also won a Commonwealth Games gold medal and took victory in the 1980 World Points race.
Sutton then went into coaching. An 11-year stint as national junior coach was followed by his appointment as the national women’s endurance coach where he became one of the most successful coaches in world cycling. He has coached 91 junior, senior, world and Olympic champions to the podium.
He guided Annette Edmondson, Amy Cure, Ashlee Ankudinoff, Josie Tomic, Sarah Kent and Melissa Hoskins’ world teams pursuit championships as well as Tomic and Edmonson’s world omniums, Cure’s world points race and Rebecca Wiasak’s two world individual pursuit championships.
He has also overseen the career of shire product Ankudinoff, who is now rated number one in the world.
After a disappointing Olympic campaign, Sutton's women’s endurance squad won a silver medal in the teams pursuit at the world championships in Hong Kong last month.
Sutton said it had been an honour to coach the women’s endurance team.
“It has been an amazing journey, sure it hasn’t been easy,” he said.
“I am leaving the program in a really healthy position leading into Tokyo. This is the disappointing thing, I won’t be a apart of it moving forward to Tokyo. But I am proud of where I am leaving the program.
“Nobody is more competitive than I am but I want to be remembered for the way I have made a difference to people. I would like to think that I have played a part in making athletes better people.
“I have seen the athletes develop and mature into wonderful human beings in addition to of course being world-class athletes.
“So many great moments but when the ladies won the team pursuit firstly in 2010 and then in Paris in 2015. It was meant to be. The feeling was there.
“Also Bec Wiasak won her world title, that was so special.
“Those memories will stay with me forever.”
