The chief executive of AusCycling, Marne Fechner, has apologised for the catastrophic equipment failure that led to Australian cyclist Alex Porter crashing at the Tokyo Olympics.
An independent report in the equipment failure that led to Porter crashing at the Tokyo Olympics has found that inadequate governance was one of the reasons for the crash.
Porter's handlebars snapped during a qualifying heat of men's pursuit team, leaving him with facial injuries after he crashed head-first into the track.
The report says the faulty part of the handlebars was not adequately tested nor checked during use and that individuals "made it up as they went along".
"Reading the final report was uncomfortable and, at times, really confronting," she said.
In a statement, Porter said: "I acknowledge the work that has gone into the report and the many people who have contributed to a better understanding of what happened in Tokyo."
The report, written by John Baker, said a custom-built "base plate" in the handlebars of the bespoke pursuit bikes designed by Australian company Bastion Cycles failed during the Olympic race.
Baker's report sheeted the bulk of the blame for the failure home to inadequate specifications for the base plate and a failure to conduct adequate fatigue testing.
It said the base plate was exposed to forces one and a half times greater than specified, creating fatigue which led to the failure.
Also, the time frame to design and make the base plate had been reduced from 10 months to four months.
The titanium material specified was lighter and stronger than steel but more sensitive to fatigue damage, the report said.
"Fatigue testing specified was reduced by the Australian Cycling Team from 200,000 to 50,000 cycles," the report stated.
Fechner said the decision was made to “optimise the opportunity for the boys to train with the base bar on the bike".
"In hindsight, that put everyone and the process under significant pressure,” Fechner said.
The report also laid blame at governance failures in the Australian cycling team, saying: "There were scant policies or processes in a technical sense and individuals made it up as they went along."
Fechner would not single out individuals responsible for the failure, saying: "For us to nominate any one individual, or a couple of individuals, would be pretty simplistic."
Asked if it was a systemic failure, Fechner said: "We do operate within a system."
"We had points and opportunities throughout this where we didn't document.
She acknowledged that the incident had caused reputational harm to AusCycling.
"From a reputational perspective, there was concern across the board for us as an organisation and our partners," Fechner said.
The manufacturer of the base plate, Bastion said it welcomed the report and distanced itself from decisions on the use of the component made by AusCycling.
In a statement it said: "Detailed investigations found that the Base Bar was subject to some 1.5 times the maximum static load specified by the design brief.
"This higher load was found to have been applied repeatedly during the race start procedure meaning the Base Bar – while designed to brief – was only 65 per cent as strong as was needed in competition conditions," the report said.
Porter crashed to the track at 65 kilometres per hour in Tokyo, while competing along with Kelland O'Brien, Sam Welsford and Leigh Howard in qualifying for the team pursuit event.
The 25-year-old was thrown forward onto the track, as his teammates signalled to officials and stopped their run.
Porter was not seriously injured and the team were given a second chance to qualify — but their time meant they missed out on the gold medal race, but in the first round they registered a time three-and-a-half seconds quicker than in qualifying to get through to the bronze medal race.
They defeated New Zealand to earn a bronze medal.
Questions raised on inaction during Games delay
The report also questioned why AusCycling did not take advantage of the one-year delay in the Olympics caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to complete its testing of the base bar.
“With the original production and shortened testing time frame met, adequate time for in-use training became available,” the report said.
“The 150,000 cycles of missed testing were never reinstated.”
“We could have been testing the base bar to breaking point.
“I would be guessing as to what were the elements that led to that not happening,” she said.
The final report includes 14 recommendations, the first of which is: “To employ qualified and experienced people who are appropriately authorised for the tasks and are working with approved processes in a controlled environment.”
