Toni Minichiello, who coached Jessica Ennis-Hill to Olympic heptathlon title, was handed a lifetime ban in August 2022 Not eligible for public funding. An investigation found Toni Minichiello engaged in “sexual physical conduct” with athletes and an independent case management panel issued a lifetime ban from athletics.
Sport England, which funds elite sport at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, convened a panel to consider Minichiello’s eligibility for public funding following the ban. The panel’s initial ruling on the funding was challenged by Minichiello, but UK Sport announced on Monday that the appeals panel found Minichiello’s conduct amounted to misconduct and brought him, his sport and UK Athletics into disrepute . The panel declared him ineligible for public funds or publicly funded benefits.
Newsletter Promotion Post
UK Sport said Minichiello will remain ineligible until UK Athletics or another national sport governing body confirms he has obtained a coaching license or is appointed to a position in which he is eligible for public funding or publicly funded benefits.
Minichiello was Ennis Hill’s coach to his 2012 London Olympics heptathlon gold medal. She said in August 2022 that the findings against her former coach were “shocking and disturbing” but that she had never been treated inappropriately.
Minichiello denied the accusations against him, but UK Athletics said at the time that an investigation had found that the company had breached the terms of its coaching license extensively over a 15-year period, “constituting a serious breach of trust”.
Minichiello’s coaching license expired during the original disciplinary proceedings, but UK Athletics said there would never be an appropriate time to issue a new license in the future.
