This guy has just coached his fifth ITU women’s Olympic-distance world champion with Emma Snowsill. Other chanpions who have worked with Sutton include Jackie Gallagher (1996), Joanne King (1998), Loretta Harrop (1999) and Siri Lindley (2001).
He is doing something right, but I remember reading that he had done something he shouldn’t have in Austrailia? Does anybody know anything about him or his philosophy?
I remember reading an article about him and that he pushed his athletes pretty hard.
There is a full thread over on Gordo’s board, including a link to an article about Sutton’s past.
As I remember, about 15 years ago he got frisky with one of the girls he was coaching, at the time she was 16 or so*.
It came to light some time later, he was banned from coaching in Oz, so he set up shop in Switzerland. Has sort of the old East German philosophy, lots of miles. If you have talent and are strong enough to handle the program, you do great. The weak crumble and fall by the way.
*When the fit hit the shan, reportedly his wife confronted him, saying “I heard you were a pedaphile!” Sutton replied, “Pedaphile? Ped-a-phile…now that’s a mighty big word for an 8-year old!”
Here’s the link Cathy was talking about:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,6903,678189,00.html
Most of the article is about kind of “bigger picture” stuff but the part about Sutton is interesting and makes you wonder, though I suspect there may be another side to the story. Fascinating to me because my wife and I were both in enclave-type sports programs in high school. My coaches were saints, at least as far as I know. One of hers was not too different from the detractors’ picture of Sutton.
The thread on gordoworld is worth checking out too if you’re interested in Sutton’s methods and the claims of his supporters/detractors.