Toni Minichiello, the highly regarded coach of Jessica Ennis-Hill, is set to receive an official warning from British Athletics after a complaint of using abusive language towards one of his former athletes was upheld. Minichiello, who guided Ennis-Hill to Olympic heptathlon gold and three world titles, faces censure this week after a blazing row with the woman athlete at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield in December, during which he said: “You’re not allowed on this track, fuck off, fuck off, fuck off.”
But Minichiello, who was named coach of the year by the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in 2012, insists the accusations are “insulting and inaccurate” and believes he has been unfairly treated by British Athletics because he has often been critical of the sport’s governing body.
The Guardian knows the identity of the athlete, who is not Ennis-Hill but had trained with Minichiello for over a decade. In her letter of complaint to British Athletics she said relations broke down after she left his coaching group last year but had come to a head before the new year.
In the letter she wrote: “After my session I was sitting on the floor packing my bag whilst chatting to an athlete who was stretching. Antonio interrupted the conversation once to ask how long she would be after we continued to chat. He then came over shouting: ‘Get off the track, you’re not allowed on here and it’s my track, fuck off.’
“I responded by telling him British Athletics hire the track not him and I’ve been given permission to use it. Antonio screamed over the top of me: ‘You’re not allowed on this track, fuck off, fuck off, fuck off,’ as I was upset and he wasn’t engaging in conversation when I tried to speak to him reasonably.”
The athlete said she had reported the incident to the duty manager of the track, adding: “I have asked some athletes for witness statements but all refuse to give them through fear of losing their coach and one can assume general fear after seeing how he spoke to me.
“Antonio also needs to be made aware that for anyone, but especially a female, having a grown man aggressively scream over you is threatening, intimidating and upsetting. It’s certainly created a very unpleasant work place for myself and others. The young female athletes who witnessed the event also need to have confidence in the fact that such behaviour won’t go unchallenged, not be tolerated and that they have a voice that will be heard should they encounter such treatment towards them in the future.”
When the Guardian spoke to Minichiello he insisted the row was “probably one argument in 15 years of a relationship” and insisted the letter did not accurately reflect how he treated his athletes.
“If you look at my record of supporting Jessica Ennis-Hill and defending her after Charles van Commenee’s comments about her being out of shape in 2011, or when people inside the sport said she couldn’t come back after her pregnancy, it shows my reputation in terms of defending women and supporting women’s athletics,” he said.
“I have always worked my damnedest to make my athletes achieve success and their dreams in whatever way is best appropriate. Look at Katy Marchand, who moved from training with me to winning a cycling bronze medal in Rio. Does that letter smack of what I am actually like? I honestly don’t think it does.
“As a coach I have always worked as hard as I can for all my athletes - we are in this to succeed together and it is disappointing when any coach-and-athlete relationship comes to an end,” he said. “I understand her frustration but I think the letter is insulting and inaccurate.”
Minichiello also rejected suggestions he is a tough coach, saying that while he always pushed his athletes to achieve more than they ever thought was possible, he has never bullied them. “I think I am a fair, honest and straight-batting coach,” he said. “I won’t lie to my athletes and neither will I gild the lily. In her book Jess said we had a ‘love/hate relationship that has caused me more tears, pain and ultimately joy than I have ever dreaded or wished for’ – she was talking about all the hard training we did together.
“I don’t think there is a coach in this country who doesn’t work their hardest for the athlete to achieve success and for it to end in an argument is a shame.”