24 x 7 World News

Canadian bobsleigh, skeleton athletes repeat calls to sports minister to improve what they call toxic culture

0

More than 90 current and retired Canadian bobsled and skeleton athletes are repeating calls to federal sport minister Pascale St-Onge to help clean up what they say is a toxic climate in their sport.

The BCS Athlete for Change group originally wrote a public letter in March calling for the resignations of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) president Sarah Storey and high performance director Chris Le Bihan.

The athletes say systemic issues have plagued BCS for the eight years since Storey was elected, and that they have gone unacknowledged by the organization. 

The letter cited issues with culture, safety, transparency and governance, claiming staff makes arbitrary decisions on matters like team selection based on biases, and has little concern for athlete safety.

They included a 24-page collection of issues and lived or observed athlete experiences, which was presented to BCS’s board of directors.

The letter included detailed findings from a recent review and evaluation of BCS completed by external consultant Nick Bass, the high performance advisor for Own the Podium.

WATCH | Athletes describe toxic culture at Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton:

Athletes describe toxic culture at Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton

Canadian bobsleigh and skeleton athletes are calling for the resignation of two top officials with Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton following issues with how the organization handled safety concerns and complaints.

The athletes say the current participation at the national and grassroots level in both bobsled and skeleton is “concerningly low,” and noted that in 2019 bobsled saw the departure of three-time Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries to the U.S.

There’s an exodus of current athletes, they say, who are choosing to compete for other countries.

The letter comes amid what St-Onge has called a safe sport “crisis” in Canada.

Hockey Canada has been mired in sexual assault allegations that has seen numerous sponsors withdraw their support and St-Onge freeze their federal funding.

The bobsled and skeleton letter asks St-Onge to look beyond funding freezes to influence change, as that would only exacerbate the negative effects to athletes.

WATCH | Upperton weighs in on athletes’ concerns with Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton:

Helen Upperton discusses discontent at Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton

The Canadian Olympic silver medallist joins Andi Petrillo to talk about the issues bobsleigh and skeleton athletes have with their national organization.

Leave a Reply