Athletics Australia president David Grace has vowed to fix AA’s fractured relationships with many of its athletes, personal coaches and other stakeholders.
An internal review released on Monday into the chaotic Commonwealth Games campaign laid bare a widespread lack of leadership among some senior AA figures in Glasgow.
The review, chaired by Chris Wardlaw, found AA was right to send head coach Eric Hollingsworth home in disgrace from the Games after he publicly criticised Olympic champion Sally Pearson on the eve of her 100m hurdles title defence.
The review determined that Hollingsworth’s removal only had a marginal impact on team performance, but that the decision was “appropriate”.
“The panel found that it was generally acknowledged that some difficult relationships had developed over time between AA’s ex-head coach and a number of athletes and coaches,” said the report.
“Historically the incident at the games was not a one-off.”
Hollingsworth has since left AA, with his successor to be named early next year.
“For a number of years there were complaints and allegations made against Eric and these were addressed at the time,” Grace told AAP.
“We appointed a high performance director (Simon Nathan) over that role of head coach to ensure there was that division of tasks.
“We felt that was working pretty well.
“Why he had the meltdown in Glasgow I do not know.
“People ask that question to this day.
“It was most unfortunate and upsetting.”
AA chief executive Dallas O’Brien also resigned in the wake of the Glasgow debacle.
The high performance department came in for criticism from the Wardlaw review in a number of areas, failings acknowledged by Grace.
“We are aware that our stakeholder engagement has let us down,” he said.
“We know we need to improve that and that’s one of the messages that comes through.
“I’m not necessarily talking about those above us like the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) or the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC).
“I’m talking about below us – our athletes, our coaches and our member associations.
“There has got to be a greater degree of unity of purpose and unity of action – all of us being on the same page rather than people perceiving that we’re running different races.”
The report criticised a lack of “genuine engagement” between some senior AA staff and athletes and their personal coaches in Glasgow.
“Communication (was) generally impersonal and largely one way,” it said.
The muddled handling and explanation of the fines handed out to Pearson, rising 800m star Alex Rowe and discus thrower Benn Harradine for missing part or all of the pre-Games camp in Gateshead was deemed not to “pass the test of common sense”.
The report recommended the appointment of an ombudsman to help with resolution of issues.
A second, more wide-ranging review into AA’s Glasgow debacle is being undertaken by the ASC.
Its findings will be made public early next year.
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