The Olympic 100m finalist Daryll Neita has accused UK Athletics of “blackmail” after it warned she would lose her lottery funding if she stayed with the coach Rana Reider.
Neita ultimately decided to leave Reider’s training camp in Florida after the Guardian revealed that he was being investigated by US SafeSport after multiple allegations of sexual abuse were made against him.
Another British athlete, Laviai Nielsen, also decided to leave last month. However Adam Gemili chose to stay and so lost his right to up to £28,000 a year in lottery funding and medical support. But, for Neita, the way it was handled has left a bad taste.
“I didn’t move due to the federation,” she said at the world indoor Championships. “I don’t actually agree with the way they handled the situation, to be honest.
“If you’re worried about the safeguarding of athletes you shouldn’t be blackmailed with funding. I think that’s two completely different things. It kind of felt like the federation just wanted to cover their backs in a way, which I completely understand. I just feel like‚ ‘do you care if I stay? Do you actually care?’”
Neita said she had not seen anything improper first-hand but had decided to leave to protect her reputation. “I don’t just want to be someone who ran fast and got records,” she said. “I want to be someone who is remembered for standing for the right things in life.
“I don’t want to be around controversies that don’t involve me. It’s not just what we do on the track, it’s what we do off the track. It’s who you are as a person and what you’re willing morally to accept.”
UK Athletics responded to Neita’s latest comments by reiterating that it was “committed to ensuring appropriate conduct”.
Neita, who is now training in Italy, also expressed her anger at her former training partner Blessing Okagbare, who was recently banned for 10 years after testing positive for human growth hormone and EPO at the Tokyo Olympics.
“The Blessing thing was just disgusting,” she said. “It sucks because it was such a massive story – it has been one of the biggest doping stories in a long time in track and field and to have kind of seen it first-hand, it makes me sick.
“And she didn’t just steal from competitors, she stole a lot from us – we saw her every day, at practice together, doing reps together. I haven’t really spoken about this, but I just feel like it is disgusting.”
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The most heartwarming story of the day came when the Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh took gold with a 2.02m clearance. The 20-year-old was at her house in Dnipro on 24 February when she was woken by the sound of explosions. She took three days to get to Belgrade but despite the tumult and trauma of the past three weeks was able to deliver.
“Hundreds of phone calls, many changes of direction, explosions, fires, and air raid sirens,” she said. “I would like to think that it was just a nightmarish dream, but this is the reality of getting anywhere in my country even today. This is the reality of the war.”
