Author Topic: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again  (Read 11410 times)

Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« on: 26 April, 2016, 01:05:22 pm »
Quote
When I won the world road race championships, Sky sponsored a men-only team. I never received a penny, but I still had to wear the logo. Was Sky aware of the inequality of the distribution of its funds to the sport? I am confident that it was not.

This is so effing ridiculous
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/apr/25/nicole-cooke-cycling-sexism-jess-varnish-shane-sutton
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Dibdib

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Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #1 on: 26 April, 2016, 01:52:13 pm »
Good on her for speaking out, and good on Varnish too.

IJL

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #2 on: 26 April, 2016, 02:36:09 pm »
Nicole's autobiography is a great read and a real eye opener on how BC and Sutton treated. 

jane

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mattc

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Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #4 on: 26 April, 2016, 04:33:06 pm »
There's no excuse for this in the Olympics and on the track, races with national teams (not commercial).

Does it happen in sports like track-n-field? I suspect not; Kelly Holmes et al seemed to get as much support as male medal prospects.

I wonder if the hand (& money) of Sky is the major corrupting factor here? Do we want sponsorship to play such a large role in Olympic sports?

Very sad ...
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Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #5 on: 26 April, 2016, 04:47:06 pm »
Cookie was very clear that she did not blame Sky.
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Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #7 on: 26 April, 2016, 10:41:25 pm »
Quote
When I won the world road race championships, Sky sponsored a men-only team. I never received a penny, but I still had to wear the logo. Was Sky aware of the inequality of the distribution of its funds to the sport? I am confident that it was not.

This is so effing ridiculous
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/apr/25/nicole-cooke-cycling-sexism-jess-varnish-shane-sutton

The 'response' from BC is almost laughable in the way it acknowledges a couple of her asides, yet entirely fails to address the substantive points.

simonp

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #8 on: 27 April, 2016, 03:06:22 am »
Sutton has now apparently been suspended after he was reported to have referred to Paralympic cyclists as 'wobblies' and 'gimps'.


Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #9 on: 27 April, 2016, 07:53:14 am »
He's an Australian and of the generation that treated me like shit when I was a disabled kid so I'm really not surprised.
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Andrew

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #10 on: 27 April, 2016, 08:26:40 am »
Nicole's autobiography is a great read and a real eye opener on how BC and Sutton treated.

Indeed. I have a great respect for Cooke, she speaks her mind for sure but is rarely wide of the mark. She tells it like it is.

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #11 on: 27 April, 2016, 08:31:17 am »
Sutton has now apparently been suspended after he was reported to have referred to Paralympic cyclists as 'wobblies' and 'gimps'.
It's reported that the phrase used was "****ing gimps".

Quote
"The attitude towards them was abysmal," said Kenny. "We were tolerated at best. The term used to refer to us was generally 'gimps', with another word in front of that.
Rust never sleeps

LEE

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Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #12 on: 27 April, 2016, 08:55:20 am »
Sounds like another case of someone becoming "untouchable" because of their (successful) high-profile.

I'm very interested to hear Dave Brailsford's take on this. I always saw Sutton as his "henchman".
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

simonp

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #13 on: 27 April, 2016, 03:40:30 pm »
Well. BBC and Sky are reporting that Sutton has resigned.

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #14 on: 27 April, 2016, 03:41:01 pm »
He's resigned, pushed I suspect. BC in full damage limitation mode now, I guess the line will be one rogue individual etc...

I'm very interested to hear Dave Brailsford's take on this.

I'd be very surprised to hear anything from DB on this.

Cross post with simonp

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #15 on: 27 April, 2016, 03:56:22 pm »
Blimey. Given the proximity of the Olympics that's probably for the best. Amazing how quickly things can get derailed.

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Jaded

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Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #16 on: 27 April, 2016, 04:06:19 pm »
Getting the excuses in early for fewer medals...
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #17 on: 27 April, 2016, 04:06:27 pm »
I'd also be surprised to hear anything from DB about it.  Given that in some cycling circles he is practically sainted, it will wash away from him if he keeps his head down.

You only have to look at the amateur scene to see that BC don't see women's and men's racing on an equal footing (and has always been so).  One example is that there is a national series for junior men (16 to 18 years old), but no equivalent for women, despite offers from organisers to provide for one.

Most women who race will be able to tell you a case of overt sexist toward them, and of the more everyday, unnoticed sexism in racing.  At amateur level, a fraction of events will include a women's race, resulting in racing female riders travelling significantly greater distances to compete, usually in E/1/2/3/4 races, where the men's equivalent is 2/3/4.  This means that female riders starting out (cat 4) often have to ride in fields with riders who are leagues ahead of them, much more so than male riders at the same stage.  This doesn't encourage new women to give racing a go.

I have been to an E/1/2/3/4 race where the field was massively diverse in experience - the commissaire's comment on this could have been 'there is potentially a wide range of ability in the field, here is what will happen when the field splits'. His actual comment was 'some of you won't have done much training because you need to spend a lot of time doing housework'. I don't believe that it is isolated individuals at all.

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #18 on: 27 April, 2016, 04:12:30 pm »
Chris Hoy's description of Shane

Quote
He said Sutton, who also mentored Sir Bradley Wiggins, is "so intense that there are times that the only thing you can do is fall out with him".

Hoy added: "Half the time you want to throttle the guy and the other half you are trying to get into his good books."

That sounds like Sutton is an utter sh!t to me. That's the description of Sutton from one of the most incredibly successful members of the team in olympic history. Imagine what Sutton was like to someone who was an only ok member of the team, or someone who was struggling psychologically.
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IJL

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #20 on: 27 April, 2016, 04:17:36 pm »
And http://singletrackworld.com/columns/2016/04/pro-xc-racer-jenny-copnall-speaks-out-at-british-cycling/ another one.

Nil combustibus pro fumo.

little of this is new it all sounds very similar to what Nicole Cooke describes in her autobiography, BC were unwilling to support someone who was not one of their riders and on the "plan" at the same time the focus on track was so complete that they had little interest in riders who could win in other events especially if they were women.  IIRC Cooke wasn't just not supported she was pretty much sabotaged and obstructed

In the past Nicole's comment received little attention outside cycling, is seems this time thinks may change but I doubt the problem begins and ends with Sutton.

Does anyone know what she did after retirement? 

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #21 on: 27 April, 2016, 04:23:02 pm »
Getting the excuses in early for fewer medals...

Given that the last two Olympiads have primed us to expect a fat haul, anything short of podiums in every event entered will result in a shellacking from the media.

BC were probably hoping to gloss over the Varnish situation, or that under the modern news cycle it wood dye a natural death, but there's no way that a lack of polish towards the Para-Olympians can be swept under the matt. It's going to leave a nasty stain.

So now Sutton's going to be satin watching it on TV along with rest of us.
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #22 on: 27 April, 2016, 04:28:00 pm »
spesh, I think we should leave matt to finish that!

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #23 on: 27 April, 2016, 04:31:03 pm »
No need to eggshell them on Peter

simonp

Re: Cookie opens her mouth - and out comes sense again
« Reply #24 on: 27 April, 2016, 04:33:12 pm »
We need the unvarnished truth.