British Bobsleigh face investigation after discrimination and bullying allegations

Senior members of Britain's bobsleigh team are facing a UK Sport investigation after the only black member of its board made allegations of discrimination and bullying.

Colin Rattigan,  who competed at the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics, is also said to have claimed he was victimised and harassed after making complaints following his appointment to the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association board last year.

A split amongst senior members of the organisation is understood to have erupted over an attempt to install the two-time British Olympic bobsledder Tom De La Hunty as the programme's new performance director.

Rattigan had been appointed to help clean up the organisation's record on diversity. In 2017,  the team's head coach, Lee Johnston, was disciplined after telling an athlete that “black drivers do not make good bobsleigh drivers”.

UK Sport confirmed in a statement "that it has commissioned an independent investigation into allegations made at the BBSA". "While the process is ongoing, we are unable to comment any further," a spokesman added. The Guardian newspaper claimed investigators are examining claims that recordings were made of board meetings in order to entrap Rattigan.

Allegations against the governing body, which was stripped of funding following poor performance at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, relate predominantly to issues among the eight-strong BBSA board.

Allegations of racism, sexism and financial mismanagement rocked the sport in 2017 and a number of athletes wrote to the BBSA's then chief executive Richard Parker describing a "toxic atmosphere".

As well as having its bobsleigh funding axed, the BBSA was put on notice by UK Sport that its £7.2 million investment in its successful skeleton programme was contingent on a major shake-up at BBSA board level.

Half of the eight-strong BBSA board stepped down after Pyeongchang, and the current board, which includes double Olympic skeleton champion Lizzy Yarnold, is split equally between male and female representatives. In a brief statement the BBSA said: "We welcome the independent investigation commissioned by UK Sport and are happy to co-operate fully."