Athletics Australia head coach Eric Hollingsworth will be sent home from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games after being stood down following his public outburst with Sally Pearson.
Eric Hollingsworth is on his way back to Australia to face the music. Source: News Limited
ATHLETICS head coach Eric Hollingsworth has been sent home in disgrace.
Australian chef de mission Steve Moneghetti confirmed Hollingworth's accreditation had been "revoked" for a breach of contract and he would be leaving Glasgow in the coming hours.
"There has been a breach in our team agreement with the head coach of the athletics section of our Commonwealth Games team," he said.
Sally Pearson and Eric Hollingsworth pic up an award in 2011. Source: Getty Images
"Because of the breach we have invited that person in to explain the reason for that breach in contract and we decided there was reason enough to impose some sanctions on the actions taken by Eric Hollingsworth.
"We spoke to the section manager from athletics to decide on an appropriate sanction and as a result of that Athletics Australia withdrew Eric's nomination as head coach of the athletics section and this led to us revoking his accreditation.
"And we have now made arrangements for Eric to travel back to Australia at the appropriate time."
Athletics Australia acted quickly after Hollingsworth had launched an extraordinary attack on Pearson saying she was a "bad example" to the rest of the Australian team.
AA president David Grace immediately suspended Hollingsworth until a full review could be conducted after Glasgow although there is no way his contract, which ends in October, will be renewed.
The final nail in the coach's coffin came when he ignored management demands not to comment on his feud with the Olympic champion.
Moneghetti defended his decision to allow Hollingsworth to mentor heptathlete Sophie Stanwell during her competition on Wednesday night despite having already been suspended by AA.
There were no smiles betwen Sally Pearson and Eric Hollingsworth even as far back as 2010. Source: Getty Images
"That was my decision and my decision entirely," he said.
"We had an athlete that was competing in that event and while Eric was the head coach, he was also the appointed coach for heptathlon.
"The event hadn't come to an end of the competition. Sophie had a fantastic event, we look after the athletes and he was the appointed coach for Sophie so we let him complete his duties in that role."
Moneghetti said Hollingsworth had accepted the sanction without question.
"He was pretty open and honest, he understands the team agreement, there wasn't any argy bargy on whether he had breached the team agreement," he said.
Pearson, who begins her 100m hurdles Commonwealth title defence in Glasgow on Friday morning (EST), has been made aware of the latest developments and Moneghetti spoke briefly to her in the athletes' village.
"I saw her yesterday in the dining room and said 'Hi', she seemed pretty focused on her performance," he said.
"She didn't read any social commentary about it and the first thing she knew about it was when an athlete mentioned it in passing.
"She is the consummate professional and I'm happy she's coping with it."
It was revealed over the weekend that Hollingsworth and Pearson were no longer on speaking terms.
Pearson was then fined for missing the team's camp, preferring to compete in London because she was desperate to have more racing as part of her comeback from injury.
Eric Hollingsworth is on his way back to Australia to face the music. Source: News Limited
A statement released by a PR representative on behalf of Hollingsworth questioned Pearson's leadership.
"Sally was coming all along until the last minute when she opted to take a race in London," he said.
"What's lost here is she's the team captain and there's a reasonable expectation she'd be in the camp ahead of something as major as the Commonwealth Games.
"Her no-show sets a bad example to the entire national team."
Athletics Australia were shocked when Hollingworth broke ranks and Grace said his position had become "untenable" by criticising Pearson on the eve of her 100m hurdles title defence.
"We were deeply shocked," Grace said.
"We were very upset with his decision to go public with his comments which were released in the media today as they were unexpected.
Australia's chef de mission Steve Moneghetti announces the sanctions. Source: News Corp Australia
"We have discussed his complaints with him and directed him not to comment to the media and that we were to discuss his complaints with him at a later time after the Games had concluded.
"Our primary focus as you would expect is ensuring the environment our athletes have is the optimum environment for their focus on competition and preparation .
"We don't need these distractions, the athletes don't need these distractions and it is very unfortunate that it has happened.
"The board of AA reached the decision unanimously that we had no option but to suspend him from his employment as head coach of Athletics Australia".
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