Former 2x World Champion in heated dispute with Triathlon Australia
Australian Emma Carney, former 2x World Champion is embroiled in a heated dispute with Triathlon Australia (TA) that has unfolded publicly since the Tokyo Games asserting the national governing body badly needs a full and independent review.
As legal representation prepares a case; the two-time world champion maintains the problems at TA extend well beyond the poor results at Tokyo and has accused TA of poor governance and athlete mismanagement.
“It’s not about Tokyo” Carney said, “what it’s about is athlete care and respect within a sport. My concerns have been raised for (many) years. Tokyo was a failure and I watched athletes in Tokyo do post-raced interviews and look at their feet – it broke my heart.”
In response the TA has suspended Carney’s membership, pending a Sports Integrity Australia review and have written a detailed letter to its members, saying many of Carney’s allegations are inaccurate and unfounded.
Another high-profile figure to come to the fore in this fallout is Michellie Jones who also won two world titles before claiming silver at triathlon’s Sydney Olympics and was the first Australian woman to win Hawaii in 2006
Jones is one of a nine-person committee that was announced to oversee a joint TA and Australian Institute of Sport review of the sport’s Olympic and Paralympic high-performance programs.
Carney, however, does not believe the review would be independent, adding its findings would not pass any test of governance, integrity and transparency.
Carney set up an online petition calling for a full independent review of TA which attracted more than 1200 signatures.
“When the things come out that TA have done, I am 100 per cent confident (of a full and independent review) … I believe it will rock Australian sport,” Carney said.
What is not in dispute is that Australian triathlon have questions to answer.
It is far removed from the glory days of the ’90s and 2000s, with Tokyo the second-successive Olympics where Australia won no medals in the sport.
Even more worrying, the production line of talent that fuelled Australia’s international success appears to have dried up and the sport lacks high-profile national events.
The problem extends beyond the Olympics. Australia had a winner at the Hawaiian Ironman every year from 2006 to ’14 – but none since.
Carney won two world titles in the 1990s, was world-rank world number one in 1995, 1996 and 1997, and achieved 19 World Cup wins, but lost an appeal against her non-selection for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She eventually was forced to give up elite competition because of a serious heart issue.
Apart from Carney’s outstanding athletic ability – she is among four triathletes inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame – Carney is also renowned for speaking her mind about issues within the sport.
