And he's out. That didn't last long and so close to the Olympics.

Anyone have any insight as to why he left?

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

From the social media posts it seems like it wasn’t his decision, though he does seem happy to get back to coaching his own squad.

Saw some serious shade being thrown on at him on the socials. Seems he wasn't popular, at least from what I read.

The thing I've always thought was incredible hard was how to balance a world class training group that includes international athletes of all federations but also being the "head coach" for a federation and all the responsibilities that are required.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

i only know joel veeeery loosely - we met maybe once or twice when we were kids on the ontario scene in the '90s. he sold me my first pair of race wheels!

i know absolutely nothing about his position with AUS or any of that.

but i will say that the situation with tri in AUS for a while now has seemed a bit toxic. middling results, lots of turnover, emma carney burning it all down . . . i don't know if i'd view his departure as being specifically as a result of a 'joel problem,' or more generally because things are a mess. from having seen how things have gone in canada (closer up) and the usa (from a distance), i'm increasingly convinced that a national team coach/program just might be a poor idea.

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____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Emma Carney is one of those throwing shade on Twitter

"Finally the Triathlon Australia’s head
Coach that had no regard or priority for Australian athletes and their success has gone."

https://twitter.com/.../1689501248285003776

https://twitter.com/.../1689623270965063681

On the face of it, it is hard to see how being hear coach of a nation is compatible with still coaching athletes from other nations.

The whole seen is toxic, Joel may have been it's saving grace as he had athlete success as his goal. The problem TA has had appears to be too many yes men to the big dogs who have a huge bias to a certain state and their own pocket. Ppl on power trips, forgetting that it is the athletes that they are meant to be supporting. I believe Joel tried to change things but was overridden the entire way. It sounds like he has been burnt by their system, and likely relieved to be free of it all. Their CEO resigned a year or so ago then their HP Director resigned a while back and they never replaced him. Office, support type staff appear to have just taken on the job and now kicked Joel out. Athletes talk and many have been dealing with a lot of crap for a long time, trying their best with a system that seems to cause more difficulty than they can deal with. Results show this, unhappy, unsupported athletes can't perform. Just look at Gentle once she got out of the Olympic programme, success again followed.

Many NT athletes left the ITU circuit after he was appointed. I'm sure there are a myriad of reasons, but Ashleigh Gentle left immediately after the Olympics.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

NT athletes? National team?
No way could he be blamed for anyone leaving. He really was never given reign to do anything. Lack of $$ support from the federation is often the reason. Costs a lot to travel to the required races from Aus. If you aren't winning $ then it's hard. Especially for younger athletes who are trying to work their way in, savings only go so far. Dont forget then covid struck and the country wasnt allowing travellers out or back in so racing pretty much stopped for over a year down here. Also some older athletes were always moving on after the Tokyo Olympic cycle. Gentle left after the Olympics, absolutely nothing to do with Joel but timing of changes in how the races play out and how she was fitting in result wise. Also from her interviews it appears she was over the TA programme and having to answer to the system. Sometimes it's just time to move into longer races. There was some stupid decisions made within TA around that time and prior to Olympics which effected those particular team athletes a lot.

Until the president is replaced nothing will change at Triathlon Australia. The president who travels to races then DNS on members funds. She has more ambassador roles then professional athletes. TA has gone backwards since she has been at the helm

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Andrew Garwood
http://www.2xu.com
http://www.newtonrunning.com
http://www.ascendsport.com.au

Joel may have been it's saving grace as he had athlete success as his goal.

E.Carney

"Finally the Triathlon Australia’s head
Coach that had no regard or priority for Australian athletes and their success has gone."

100%

She has a problem with the entire of TA, anyone on the payroll. Unfortunately when Joel moved into the position she was already stating this, before he even arrived in Aus and started coaching, he didn't stand a chance with her.

That isn’t true. She is supportive of those that put the athletes first. JF was a disaster for Australia, their performance has gone backwards.

Their membership is down by something like 50% over a 4 year period and 85% of their budget doesn’t go on athletes. Maybe now they will get someone who concentrates solely on Aus.

Had to dig up my old login here :-) Plenty of insightful comments already here that captured some aspects of the environment and TA culture from others' experiences and observations over time. These elements are a kind of immovable object, and no one person can change a culture that has been in place for many years, and ultimately demonstrated little desire for meaningful change, or learning from elsewhere - this was a particular issue for me with endless comments about me not being Australian, as if the problems there were not just versions of the same ones I've seen all over the world. Only a complete strip down and rebuild from the ground up could help shed the baggage of the past. I'm happy to share my reflections over time, however it's always tricky to avoid the perception of airing of dirty laundry in this kind of situation, even if they are simply my own experiences. Suffice to say what I sold when recruited to come to Australia was very different to how I found the situation when I arrived. Initially the move was family driven, to find a stable situation where I could work and coach from 'home', and I was willing to ignore some of the warning signs that became very clear once I arrived on the ground post Tokyo. I would have preferred to have the option to stay through to finish the cycle to Paris 2024, but it was not my choice, and with yet another restructure my role was eliminated just a week out from the test event.

On the positive, back to work in a no BS and fully performance focused environment, bandwidth for new projects, and a good excuse to bring back the podcast.

Joel

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>>>>
JoelFilliol.com - check out the Real Coaching Podcast

TA had Miles at the top, tried Ben G as HP Director, now Joe has left.

The issue is with Australia its coaches and nepotism in the institutions.

Joe coached Mola and Whitfield. Joe likes to do what works, people were not prepared to do what worked.

This 100%.

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>>>>
JoelFilliol.com - check out the Real Coaching Podcast

Can you provide more background to this or links etc?? What do you mean travels to races on member funds? As in uses our funds as TA members to travel to races to compete??

Best wishes for future endeavor's Joel and hope our paths cross.

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David T-D
http://www.tilburydavis.com

Yes please! More podcasts!

There was an accusation that someone travelled to Europe using Aus Tri budget for a race that didn’t really need them there. Whilst there they did a quick hop over to do a LD race (might have been an IM in Germany or Roth) can’t remember which one. They put the wrong bag in the wrong transition (split transition) so probably Hamburg or Roth so had to DNF.

It was insinuated that the motive for the Europe travel was to subsidise the travel to the LD race.

Pretty sure his name is Joel.

Hell yes!!!

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Thanks, I think that was Roth and was a mix up with the bike and run bags. Can see how the optics of something like that travel etc can look bad. Even if it is unfounded, the accusation itself still lingers and can be hard to see past. I am WA based and we had our own issues with TA and managed to not get incorporated with most of the other states.