The coach who is at the centre of the Paralympic swimming bullying scandal resigned from a previous job with the police after it was alleged he and another officer made fun of a disabled person at a takeaway restaurant in Preston.
Rob Greenwood was appointed as head coach of British Para-Swimming in 2013 but left his post before an independent investigation began into allegations of bullying and discrimination made by multiple athletes. He was found to have used “abusive and derogatory” language towards athletes, some of them children, and created a “climate of fear”. Some of those athletes, including Paralympic champions, were offered complimentary psychotherapy sessions to help deal with the trauma of the verbal abuse and the subsequent inquiry.
The Observer has learned that Greenwood was briefly a police officer for the Lancashire force in 2002. He was stationed in Blackpool and was reprimanded during training for inappropriate behaviour, including showing his bare backside to female colleagues. He subsequently offered his resignation during a two-year probation period, along with another officer, after they were accused of making fun of a disabled person in a takeaway on a night out in Preston.
The Observer understands that Greenwood was also the subject of a separate internal investigation at British Swimming during the four-year cycle leading up to Rio 2016.
Under Greenwood the British Paralympic team won 47 medals in Rio, including 16 golds, and he was subsequently named the 2016 high-performance coach of the year by UK Coaching, the British agency for sports coaches. But the organisation is now considering stripping him of the award after an investigation involving interviews with 13 athletes, many of whom are still members of the Great Britain squad, and 10 members of staff, found he had been discriminatory towards disabled athletes.
Allegations included that some women on the elite Paralympic squad were subjected to hurtful comments about their weight and eating habits. One turned up to training in a gym top and Greenwood reportedly said: “Isn’t that top a bit small for you?”
UK Sport allocated more than £11m in public and lottery money to the elite para-swimming programme leading up to the Rio Games. The funding agency is now in receipt of the full report of the investigation ordered by British Swimming, led by two former police officers, and is considering whether to take additional disciplinary action.
It is just the latest in a growing list of duty of care scandals across Olympic and Paralympic sport. There is a continuing investigation into British Canoeing, and allegations of bullying, elitism and corruption will be investigated as part of an independent review commissioned by the British Equestrian Federation (BEF).
The allegations were made in the resignation letter of the former BEF chief executive Clare Salmon, who left her position in July this year. A statement on its website said the terms of reference for the independent review would include, but not be limited to, “issues of alleged elitism, self-interest, bullying and corruption”. The review would also look at whether there were “fundamental relationship issues within and between the organisations involved in British equestrian sport”.
When contacted, British Swimming and Greenwood both offered no comment.
