Former Oracle boss claims

The credibility of the Volvo Ocean Race has been questioned as theories of match-fixing circulate.

Former director of external affairs for Oracle, Tom Ehman, told Radio Sport that in his view, the Volvo Ocean Race has “lost all credibility” in light of recent events.

Last month, Vestas 11th Hour Racing was involved in a fatal collision with a fishing boat, just 40km off the coast of the Hong Kong finish line.

Volvo Ocean Race organisers reported limited information about the incident, which killed one man, and reportedly did not allow questions about the crash during their recent press conference.

Ehman claims no crew or representative from Vestas was at the Hong Kong press conference, and the mainstream media were not allowed to ask questions.

“They had the press conference with no mention of Vestas, no Vestas representation and Andy Green, who was the moderator, was the only one asking questions,” said Ehman. “They issued afterwards, long afterwards, a statement but only with quotes from the other six skippers.”

Ehman claims “many people” now believed that organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race were concealing information and potentially matchfixing the event in the interest of maintaining positive publicity for their core sponsor, Volvo.

The race was being managed solely by its corporate sponsor, instead of an independent sailing