LONDON: Double Olympic champion Laura Trott said Wednesday she had only ever had a "wholly positive" working relationship with British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton after the Australian was suspended amid accusations of sexist and discriminatory behaviour.
Cycling has been one of Britain's most successful Olympic sports in recent years, with Sutton guiding the likes of Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins to gold medal glory before taking the top job at British Cycling in 2014.
But Sutton's suspension means the team are now without their boss just 100 days before this year's Rio Games.
British Cycling launched an independent review on Tuesday after sprinter Jess Varnish accused Sutton of sexist conduct, saying he had told her to "go and have a baby" after her contract was not renewed.
Then, just under a couple of hours after the review was announced, a report in Britain's Daily Mail newspaper said Sutton, 58, had made derogatory references to Paralympic cyclists, calling them "gimps".
That appeared to prompt British Cycling's decision to suspend Sutton, who has repeatedly insisted he has always conducted himself in a professional manner.
Trott, one of Britain's track-cycling stars when she won two golds in front of a home crowd at London 2012, issued a statement Wednesday saying: "Personally I have only ever had a wholly positive and healthy working relationship with Shane Sutton and I am very grateful to him and the British cycling team for all the support and coaching they have given me over the years to get me to where I am today.
"I cannot comment on the allegations being made as I don't know all the facts so feel it would be inappropriate for me to cast judgement either way."
Sutton, in an interview with The Times on Wednesday, was asked if he had told Varnish to "go and have a baby".
"One hundred percent no," he replied. "There was never any talk of babies. I don't know where that's come from.
"Jess is a wonderful girl, a beautiful person, I couldn't ask for any more from her on the programme. Unfortunately everything comes to an end and unfortunately her time on the programme is done."
Thus far, the allegations and denials have come in a series of separate interviews with various British newspapers.
The interview with The Times took place before the Daily Mail published fresh comments from Darren Kenny, a 10-time cycling medal-winner in the Paralympic Games, alleging Sutton had used abusive language towards disable athletes.
"The attitude towards (members of the Paralympic team) was abysmal," Kenny told the Mail. "We were tolerated at best. The term used to refer to us was generally "gimps", with another word in front of that."
Sutton replaced Dave Brailsford as British Cycling chief in 2014.
As head coach and then performance director, Sutton was Brailsford's right-hand man behind the scenes in the British team which won eight gold medals at both the 2008 and the 2012 Olympics.
Sutton has a reputation for being blunt with riders but Britain's Dani King, a London 2012 cycling gold medallist, told Tuesday's London Evening Standard, said he was equally hard on both men and women.
"I really feel for Jess," King said. "But I never experienced anything like that myself. I never saw women being treated differently.
"Shane is a no-nonsense kind of guy. But he was no no-nonsense with the men as well as the women."
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