British Cycling will "come under pressure next week to make changes to its leadership" -- including new Chair Jonathan Browning -- or "risk losing millions of pounds of public funding." Sport England’s board, which distributes public and lottery money to grassroots sport, "has a meeting on Tuesday where some directors are expected to push for further changes after cycling’s much-criticised handling of the Jess Varnish controversy." It is understood that "some Sport England directors are set to demand new faces at the top" before agreeing to release the £17.3M ($21.4M) funding after the Cycling Independent Review called into "serious question whether the composition of the British Cycling Board is fit to govern a national sporting body" (LONDON TIMES, 3/16).
Doping investigator Richard McLaren has been invited for talks with IOC President Thomas Bach "amid ongoing tension between Olympic sports bodies and anti-doping officials." The offer, announced Thursday, to meet in Lausanne "comes eight months after McLaren detailed evidence of a Russian doping conspiracy at the 2014 Sochi Olympics." IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said that Bach wants to meet McLaren and WADA President Craig Reedie to "improve relations" (AP, 3/16).
Senior Australian Football League coaches have been "identified as a security risk" and will be escorted to and from games and receive extra protection during opposition scouting missions and around airports following an internal review at the AFL. The new protective measures to be put in place from next week's season opener "come after the AFL wrote to all 18 clubs last month strongly recommending a new series of guidelines to look after their football front men." While not all clubs have accepted all of the recommendations, "the majority of club football bosses have agreed to provide extra protection" (THE AGE, 3/16).
