Russia tries to lure British Olympic coach with lucrative deal

UK Athletics (UKA) is aware of the situation with Freckleton, who guided Jodie Williams to the women’s Olympic 400m final in Tokyo and CJ Ujah to an Olympic sprint-relay silver, only for the British quartet to then be stripped of their medal because of Ujah’s positive drugs test. The governing body will review whether it needs to take any action should Freckleton decide to work with a federation that is banned from the sport at present.

In a statement to The Times, it said: “UKA has sought further clarification and detail on the nature of the role to be delivered. With any coach or athlete seeking to work with an individual or organisation that is currently suspended under World Athletics rules, we would seek further advice from our own standards, ethics and rules committee in addition to external advice ahead of making any further comment.”

When approached by The Times this week, Freckleton, who was a member of the British bobsleigh squad for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, initially claimed that he was going to Russia to work in “carpentry” before declining the opportunity to discuss the situation.

Legally there is nothing to prevent a UK citizen from working in Russia, but it is understood that Freckleton may not go if he risks losing his coaching licence because of the national federation’s present ban.

Russian sport remains in a difficult situation, with its national football team also among those excluded. In the absence of major-tournament football and qualifying campaigns, they played ten friendlies last year against non-European opposition. Eight of those games were at home, with two away fixtures in Belarus and Qatar.

In a statement on Friday, Russian Athletics said: “As part of the new development strategy we are exploring options for attracting foreign specialists. This is an important step towards modernising the coaching staff and improving the methodological framework of Russian sports.

“Currently we are holding negotiations with several international experts. In particular, we spoke with specialists from Asia, Europe and the USA. Some specific agreements have been reached, but other agreements are in the process of negotiations.

“Specific agreements have not been reached yet, but we expect that the involvement of international experience will be one of the main factors in our return to the global sports. We believe that this will not only improve the training of Russian athletes, but also restore the trust of the international community in Russian athletics.”

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