A look into the dark history of Olympic coach Brett Sutton after he was banned in Australia for sexually abusing a teenage girl – as his new life abroad is revealed
A coach who was exposed as a child abuser after competing at the Paris Olympics had previously abused a teenage girl during her training.
Australian Brett Sutton, 65, trained Swiss Julie Derron to silver in the triathlon on Wednesday, ahead of Britain’s Beth Potter.
He received accreditation from China and attended the event, where he gave an interview to Swiss television near the finish line at Pont Alexandre III.
In 1999, Sutton pleaded guilty to five charges of sexually abusing a 13-year-old Australian girl, a swimmer he had trained in the late 1980s.
He was given a two-year prison sentence, but it was suspended for three years.
Judge Robert Hall said Sutton had interfered with the girl in a “gross and disgraceful manner” and “abused his role to an unforgivable extent”, The Sunday Times reported.
The court heard a series of allegations during Sutton’s 1999 trial, which included graphic details such as him forcing a girl to give him oral sex.
The victim did not dare to report the incident to the police until she was an adult and married.
Australian coach Brett Sutton, 65, has been exposed as the second known child abuser at the Olympics after pleading guilty to five charges of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl
The woman cooperated with police and secretly recorded a phone call with Sutton, who made several confessions of sexual abuse.
Sutton was convicted after pleading guilty to five felonies, for which he failed to provide evidence to the court.
Because Sutton refused to testify, the victim did not have to be questioned.
However, according to The Observer in 2002, it gave Sutton’s lawyer the opportunity to make claims in his request for mitigation that could never be challenged in court.
Sutton told The Observer that he no longer coaches children under the age of 16 because “that is the age at which sexual acts are permitted”.
“My lawyer told me that. That way no one can say I’m a pedophile,” Sutton said.
Mr Hall told Sutton, who as national triathlon coach was preparing a number of athletes for the Sydney Olympics, that they would be ‘disadvantaged by your absence’.
Sutton was subsequently banned from coaching by several associations, with the International Triathlon Union and Triathlon Australia imposing a three-year ban.
The Australian National Olympic Committee told The Australian that Sutton “has been given a lifetime ban from swimming in Australia following his conviction for sexual offences.”
Since 2021, Sutton has also been banned for life by USA Triathlon.
Les McDonald, president of the International Triathlon Union, commented on Sutton’s career following his conviction.
Mr McDonald said athletes coached by Sutton would not be allowed to compete internationally.
However, despite his conviction, Sutton has been able to rebuild his coaching career.
Sutton moved to Switzerland after his marriage broke up following his conviction and has now run a family coaching business in the ski resort of St. Moritz for more than 20 years.
Sutton received accreditation from China and trained Derron (center), who took second place
On his website, Sutton claims to have helped make the careers of “many sports icons successful over the past 35 years.” He charges $999 a month for his expertise.
A spokesman for Sutton confirmed that he was an accredited coach for China at the Paris Olympics.
He explained that Sutton attended the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2012 in London as an accredited member of the Swiss team.
A spokesperson for the Swiss National Olympic Committee told The Australian that athletes choose their own coach for the Games.
“Brett Sutton does not work for Swiss Olympic and he has no position within our organisation in Paris,” he said.
‘Swiss athletes decide for themselves who they work with as a personal coach.’
Sutton has since left the Paris Olympics because his athletes have finished participating.
