Paris: An Australian child sex offender who was convicted for abusing a young swimmer has been accredited by the Chinese Olympic Committee for the Paris Games, it has been revealed.
Brett Sutton, who pleaded guilty to sex offences against a 13-year-old in the late 1980s, is the second known child sex offender to be accredited for the Olympics, as the coach of the women’s triathlon silver medallist.
The coach of the Paris Games women’s triathlon silver medallist pleaded guilty to sex offences against a 13-year-old in the late 1980s.Credit: Dallas Kilponen
The Sunday Times reported that Sutton, 65, attended the triathlon to watch his athlete, Switzerland’s Julie Derron, take silver ahead of Britain’s Beth Potter.
The selection of Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde, who served time in prison after he was convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl in England, has caused a storm of protests since it was announced, and he was booed by crowds last week.
The paper reported that Sutton even gave an interview to a Swiss television network close to the finish line on Pont Alexandre III in which his official Olympic accreditation lanyard could be seen hanging from his neck. Sutton moved to Switzerland after his conviction and he now runs a professional coaching business based in the ski resort of St Moritz.
A spokesman for the Swiss national Olympic committee told The Sunday Times: “Brett Sutton does not work for Swiss Olympic and he does not have any function for our organisation in Paris. Swiss athletes decide for themselves who they work with as personal coaches.”
World Triathlon refused to comment on media reports but confirmed that Sutton was in Paris as an accredited coach for the Chinese Olympic Committee. He has also attended the Games in Tokyo in 2020, Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and London in 2012 as an accredited member of the Swiss team, the paper reported.
Sutton was sentenced to two years in prison by a Brisbane court in 1999, but the sentence was suspended for three years. Judge Robert Hall said at the time Sutton had interfered with the girl in a “gross and disgraceful way” and “abused his role to an inexcusable degree”, but took into account that Sutton, the national triathlon coach, was preparing a number of athletes for the Games.
The paper said a spokesman for Sutton declined to provide a comment on his role at the Games but added he had served a three-year sanction imposed by the International Triathlon Union and Triathlon Australia.
But the Australian Olympic Committee has said that Sutton was banned for life from swimming in Australia following his sexual offences conviction, and he has also been banned for life by USA Triathlon since 2021.
The International Olympic Committee did not respond to inquiries from this masthead but told The Sunday Times that, as was the case of van de Velde, it was a matter for the national Olympic committee that had accredited Sutton. It added that Sutton had now left the Games as his athletes had finished competing.
He has been described on Chinese television as China’s national triathlon coach, but the Chinese committee has not replied to a request for comment.
Sutton has coached a number of prominent athletes, including Nicola Spirig, the Swiss Olympic gold medallist in London, and the Swiss five-times Ironman world champion Daniela Ryf.
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