‘Our team will leave no stone unturned in quest for medals’
Words of British Cycling chief Cookson from 2011 have worrying air about them after truths uncovered by tribunal
It is easy to forget just how headover-heels Britain was for cycling 10 years ago. When Mark Cavendish became the first British rider to win the green jersey at the Tour de France in 2011, and backed that up by claiming the first British world title in the men’s road race since 1965, he was crowned the BBC’S Sports Personality of the Year.
One year later, Sir Bradley Wiggins – just plain old Bradley back then – became the first British man to win the Tour de France. He backed that up by claiming the 2012 Olympic time trial title, one of eight gold medals won by British riders at those golden Games. Wiggins celebrated his victory on a throne at Hampton Court Palace. The Sun published cut-out-and-keep 24-carat Wiggo sideburns for fans to wear roadside. Wiggins, like Cavendish before him, won Spoty that year, memorably playing Wonderwall on stage at the after-party.
This was the era when cycling went from minor to major in the British sporting firmament. When Sir Dave Brailsford’s “marginal gains” philosophy, with its sterilised pillows and duvets, became the most valuable currency in UK Sport. British success forged at the “Medal Factory”.
Reading the foreword to the governing body’s annual report of 2011 is to be transported to a totally different world. Brian Cookson, who was president of British Cycling between 1996 and 2013, opens by mentioning his “profound sense of pride in being part of this great organisation” and goes on to say that the Great Britain cycling team will go into the following year’s Olympic Games as the nation to beat in almost every event. “A truly remarkable position,” Cookson notes, “that brings with it massive levels of expectation and huge pressure. I am, however, certain of one thing – our team and their back-up staff will leave no stone unturned and will spare no effort in their quest for medals.”
Cookson was right about that at least. While the two-year fitness-to-practise tribunal has been largely messy and unsatisfactory, effectively pinning the blame on one man without establishing for whom he ordered the drugs and with little likelihood that UK Anti-doping will be able to fill in the gaps, one thing it did establish beyond question was how hard those involved were pushing up to that line.
When Team Sky entered the sport in 2010 and promised to do it clean, it was like a breath of fresh air for fans wearied by years of doping scandals.
But the image that emerged of British Cycling and Team Sky in the hearing did not tally with the image sold; bullying and intimidation, haphazard medical record-keeping, a disturbing lack of curiosity from senior management.
We heard evidence that Freeman had researched the effects of Viagra on testosterone levels the month before ordering the Testogel. Doctors were jettisoned from Team Sky because they were “worriers” about issues such as IV recovery and “would not put Sky in a place to compete to win”. This comes on the back of other notable ethical scandals in recent years. The use of strong painkillers under Therapeutic Use Exemptions.
Team Sky always admitted they pushed right up to the line but never beyond it. Yesterday’s ruling by a medical tribunal suggests that at least one person within the organisation was prepared to do that.
Among the calls yesterday for blood samples to be retested and Brailsford to be suspended pending further investigation, one of the most poignant reactions came from Cookson.
“I was proud and privileged to have overseen a period of unprecedented success in the sport, leading to a massive increase in its popularity and profile,” he said. “That this should now be open to question is a matter of extreme concern to me and all of those who work or have worked behind the scenes in our sport, in governance, management, administration and coaching.”
His words could not have clashed more markedly with the sense of optimism and joy that pervaded in his year-end notes 10 years ago.
The mysterious delivery of testosterone
Dr Richard Freeman’s tribunal began on Feb 5, 2019, but its genesis was well before that. The delivery of a box of Testogel patches to British Cycling’s headquarters in May 2011 – akin to Semtex turning up at the House of Commons – was established by UK Anti-doping as part of its investigation into the “Jiffy bag” affair in the autumn of 2016.
It became public knowledge when Dr Steve Peters, the former head of medicine at British Cycling, told The Sunday Times about it in an interview in March 2017. Peters said he had questioned Freeman, who told him the package had been sent in error, and that Freeman had shown him confirmation it had been returned to the supplier. There was the whiff of a smoking gun if any part of that explanation failed to stack up. Ukad closed its Jiffy bag inquiry in autumn 2017, frustrated at the lack of medical records and claiming it had been “hindered” by British Cycling, but the General Medical Council decided to pursue a separate investigation.
Over the course of 2018, allegations started to emerge that the testosterone had in fact been ordered deliberately. Towards the end of 2018, the GMC finished building its case against Freeman and a hearing was scheduled by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service for February 2019.
Accusations of a cover-up
At the heart of the GMC’S case was the allegation that Freeman’s “motive for placing the order was to obtain Testogel to administer to an athlete to improve their athletic performance”. Freeman had been formally accused of attempted doping.
The GMC further alleged that Freeman had lied repeatedly about the delivery – including to Ukad – in an attempt to conceal his motive for the order. The summary fleshed out details about the case, including the allegation Freeman had not sent the package back in May after it was discovered, but had instead written to the supplier, Oldham-based Fit4sport, in October of that year, asking them to send a false note to state that he had done so. Effectively, Freeman was accused of orchestrating a far more elaborate cover-up.
However, the case was beset by delays. Freeman’s celebrated QC, Mary O’rourke, requested an adjournment relating to her client’s health – he said he had suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts – and on March 5, 2019 the hearing was adjourned indefinitely.
The ‘erectile dysfunction’ defence
On Oct 8, 2019 the case finally began in earnest. Freeman would contest only four of the GMC’S 22 allegations. He would admit to ordering the drugs, and lying to cover his tracks. He admitted he had told “lots of lies”, including to Ukad investigators. But he would deny the central charge of ordering the Testogel “knowing or believing” it was intended for an athlete.
Freeman’s case was that Shane Sutton had “bullied” him into ordering the testosterone, allegedly to treat Sutton’s erectile dysfunction.
Simon Jackson QC, for the GMC, suggested Sutton had become “Freeman’s scapegoat to cover up his earlier misconduct”, adding that the two had a personal falling-out.
The GMC’S case was that Freeman ordered the testosterone with the intention of “microdosing” – a way of improving an athlete with small top-ups of performanceenhancing drugs.
From Jiffy to ‘stiffy’
Perhaps the most explosive day in the two-year hearing took place on Nov 12, 2019, when Sutton gave evidence. The Australian would end up storming out of the hearing, which he described as a “s---show”, after being accused of being a “serial liar” and a “doper with a doping history”.
It was a farce. Freeman, who had been given “vulnerable witness” status on account of his poor mental health, was on the other side of a screen from Sutton. But the Australian directed much of his invective straight at his former colleague, labelling him a “spineless individual” and imploring him to come out from behind the screen and look him in the eye.
Sutton also accused O’rourke of being a “bully”, denied he had ever doped, swore on his three-year-old daughter’s life that he never ordered the Testogel and said he was prepared to take a lie-detector test.
As for allegations that he suffered from erectile dysfunction, Sutton memorably shouted: “You are telling the press I can’t get a hard-on – my wife wants to testify that you are a b----- liar!” As one wag quipped: we had gone from Jiffy to “stiffy”.
The Murdochs ‘reduced Freeman to tears’
Sutton refused to return to the hearing, but other witnesses were called as the defence tried to paint Freeman as a victim, and the GMC called him an “ambitious” doctor and “risk-taker”. Peters was key. His recollections about Freeman’s mental state were troubling, although some found Peters’s own lack of curiosity to make sure the issue was resolved in the first place equally so.
There was a 10-month delay – partly Covid-induced – before Freeman himself finally took to the witness box. There were questions about his (lack of) medical recordkeeping, his loss and destruction of company laptops containing said medical records and his poor mental health. There were further worrying claims of bullying and potential cover-up at the highest levels.
Freeman’s account of being reduced to tears at a meeting with Rupert Murdoch’s lawyer, and the media mogul’s son James, as they pressed him on what he was going to tell a select committee probe into doping three years ago (he eventually pulled out) – a time he had described himself as “suicidal” – was one particularly troubling episode.
The most explosive day of the hearing took place when Sutton gave evidence
Package mystery still unsolved
The hearing ended remotely, with the country in lockdown once again. Both sides claimed to have made their cases beyond all doubt.
The tribunal ruled that Freeman had ordered the testosterone “knowing or believing it was to be given to a rider for the purpose of doping”. We do not know who that is, and huge questions remain. But this has been utterly devastating for the sport and those involved in it.