Sex offender who coached Swiss medallist leaves Olympics
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening:
Sex offender who coached Swiss medallist leaves Olympics
A convicted sex offender who coached triathlon silver medallist Julie Derron of Switzerland has left the Paris 2024 Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Sunday it was looking into the matter.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
Australian Brett Sutton appeared was interviewed by Swiss public television, RTS, commenting on Derron’s performance after Wednesday’s triathlon.
+ Swiss triathlete Julie Derron clinches Olympic silver: a family triumph in Paris
Sutton was wearing an Olympic accreditation and was also seen wearing a red jacket with the Chinese flag and Olympic rings on it.
The Chinese Olympic Committee did not immediately respond to Reuters to a request for comment.
In 1999, Sutton pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual abuse of a 13-year-old Australian swimmer he had been coaching and was sentenced to two years in prison. The sentence was suspended for three years.
+ Swiss government steps up fight against abuse in sport
“I understand that this person is no longer here at the Games. They have left the Games,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told a press conference on Sunday.
“It is an issue for the Chinese Olympic Committee and the national federation will need to get involved,” he added, referring to reports that Sutton had been accredited by the Chinese Committee. “Looking forward, I can tell you we will obviously look into this issue.”
“Coaches are not accredited by us but by the National Olympic Committees, and approved by the IOC,” a World Triathlon spokesperson said on Sunday.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.