Advertisement

British Cycling warned over public funding following Jiffy bag scandal

British Cycling may see its funding stripped if there is a repeat of the 'Jiffy bag scandal' -  JULIAN SIMMONDS
British Cycling may see its funding stripped if there is a repeat of the 'Jiffy bag scandal' - JULIAN SIMMONDS

British Cycling and other national governing bodies could be stripped of public funding if there is any repeat of the Sir Bradley Wiggins Jiffy bag scandal under plans being drawn up by UK Anti-Doping.

Ukad was on Thursday night considering changes to the country’s National Anti-Doping Policy, with which all NGBs that receive exchequer and National Lottery cash must comply, following its failure to ascertain the contents of a package sent to Britain’s most decorated Olympian during the build-up to the 2011 Tour de France.

The unsatisfactory conclusion to Ukad’s year-plus investigation into allegations the package contained the restricted steroid triamcinolone, in which the agency announced on Wednesday it had been unable to “confirm or refute” testimony by Team Sky that the substance was instead a simple decongestant, has prompted talks over avoiding a repeat in future.

Ukad said on Wednesday its quest to get to the truth had been thwarted by a “lack of accurate medical records” at both British Cycling and the professional team it helped create, which it branded a “serious concern”.

But, other than referring the matter to the General Medical Council, no further action was taken by the agency.

NGBs which fail to keep such records in future could face punishment, with Ukad considering formally recommending the withholding of public money.

The key players in the controversy
The key players in the controversy

Chief executive Nicole Sapstead said on Thursday: “If we come across situations where records we think should exist don’t exist, or don’t exist in a proper format, we will escalate the matter to the funding body when there is one.”

Those bodies include UK Sport, Sport England and the other Home Country Sports Councils, which distributed millions of pounds of public money to NGBs.

Any hardening of the NADP would come during a year-long consultation announced by Ukad chairman Trevor Pearce last month which he revealed would also result in a crackdown on NGBs’ compliance with the policy.

He told the agency’s Clean Sport Forum: “The UK Anti-Doping policy is clear; sports must comply with it. Indeed, we know it is also a prerequisite of the funding bodies that anti-doping responses are an important criteria to funding approvals and we will be looking to how sports are held to account in this regard.

Timeline | How Jiffy-bag saga reached a dead end
Timeline | How Jiffy-bag saga reached a dead end

“From my early observations, I am not sure that all sports have given genuine and serious consideration to the threat of doping in their sport. I take it on the chin that, in part, to do this, they need better information about the threats, but I have been surprised to talk to a chairman of an NGBs who had not had any board level discussions on this issue.

“That has to change. UK Anti-Doping will be looking to sports to clearly demonstrate that they are complying with the National Anti-Doping Policy.”

 Wiggins reacted angrily on Wednesday to the conclusion of Ukad’s Jiffy bag investigation, declaring: “No evidence exists to prove a case against me and in all other circumstances this would be an unqualified finding of innocence.”

The 2012 Tour de France winner and five-time Olympic champion also said his life and that of his family had been made “a living hell” by the year-long investigation, bemoaning the fact Richard Freeman, the doctor who previously worked for both Team Sky and British Cycling and who ordered the delivery of the Jiffy bag, had not managed to keep accurate medical records which might have exonerated him.

“Had the infrastructure for precise record-keeping been in place, this investigation would have never started,” Wiggins said in a statement.