Toni Minichiello banned for life by UK Athletics over sexually inappropriate conduct, by Sean Ingle for the Guardian UK

The lifetime ban of Coach Toni Minichiello, the former coach of Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, has created quite a stir in England. Minichiello was a prominent coach in British Athletics for decades. The following piece, by Sean Ingle of the Guardian (UK), puts the whole sad situation in its proper context.

The accusations of bullying and sexually inappropriate comments and conduct are being denied by Coach Minichiello. Jessica Ennis-Hill, the beloved British Olympian who competed in four World Championships (taking gold in 3) and two Olympics (gold in 2012 and silver in 2016), noted her surprise with the accusations of her long-time coach.

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Toni Minichiello has been a coach for over three decades, and the accusations, all of which Coach Minichiello denies, date over fifteen years.

Part of the issue with Coach Minichiello is the time that it has taken British Athletics to react to the accusations. This same situation has come to light with another prominent coach, and in both cases, the coaches were responsible for athletes who contributed several medals to the British Federation. British media asked if the delays or the seeming “looking the other way” was because of the Coaches’ success with athletes. Only time will tell.

Toni Minichiello banned for life by UK Athletics over sexually inappropriate conduct by Sean Ingle for the Guardian UK.

Toni Minichiello, the coach who guided Jessica Ennis-Hill to gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games, has been banned for life from training athletes after an investigation found he had engaged in sexually inappropriate behaviour, emotional abuse, and bullying.

To read the entire piece, in its original form, at Guardian UK, please go to: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/aug/09/toni-minichiello-banned-for-life-by-uk-athletics-over-sexually-inappropriate-conduct

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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