Australian coach convicted of child sex offences leaves the Paris Olympics after being spotted on TV among China’s team

A convicted child sex offender who coached Switzerland’s triathlon silver medallist has left the Paris Olympics after the International Olympic Committee said it was ‘looking into’ how he was allowed to attend the Games.

Australian coach Brett Sutton, 65, trained Switzerland’s Julie Derron to second place last week, ahead of Team GB’s Beth Potter. 

However, last week he was given accreditation by China and was at the event, where he gave an interview to Swiss television close to the finish line on Pont Alexandre III. 

On subsequent footage, Sutton’s official Olympic accreditation lanyard could be seen around his neck. 

Sutton has now since left the Paris Games after being outed as a known child sex offender. 

Sutton was given accreditation by China and joined in with Derron’s (centre) celebrations

In 1999, Sutton pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual abuse of a 13-year-old Australian girl, a swimmer he had been coaching. He was given two years in prison, with the sentence suspended for three years.

According to The Sunday Times the judge, Robert Hall, said Sutton had interfered with the girl in a ‘gross and disgraceful way’ and ‘abused his role to an inexcusable degree’. 

He did, however, note that as a national triathlon coach he was preparing a number of athletes for the Sydney Games and that they would ‘suffer disadvantage from your absence from the scene’. 

Sutton is banned from coaching by several foundations. 

‘They are no longer here. They have left the Games,’ Adams told reporters when questioned about Sutton. ‘In the first instance, it’s an issue for the Chinese Olympic Committee.’

He added: ‘Whilst we have safeguarding measures in place, unfortunately things do occur from time to time and we will look into this.’

Sutton runs the Trisutto triathlon coaching company, which posted pictures of him at the finish line on Instagram as well as a video of him speaking to Swiss TV after Derron’s surprise second-place finish.

Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde, who has a conviction for raping an underaged girl, has focused attention on whether sports people with historic sex abuse convictions should be allowed to attend the Games.

Dutch paedophile Steven van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison after raping a girl

He was booed by some fans when he made his first appearance on July 28 and has been separated from other Dutch athletes, meaning he is not staying at the athletes’ village.

‘What is in the past is in the past, and he had his punishment,’ van de Velde’s teammate Matthew Immers said.

Trisutto says on its website that ‘no-one has produced more winning triathletes in the history of our sport’ and claims the group has trained four Olympic medallists and 30 world champions.