Mark Davies, Chair of Archery GB responds to the news article published today by BBC Sport.
Update Saturday 1 July 2017:
Late last night, we received a call from the alleged victim referred to in the BBC report, who has confirmed that contact was made with the police last week. As such, we last night suspended a coach until further notice, pending police enquiries.
Statement 30 June 2017:
I wrote at the beginning of May this year to all those who has been involved with AGB's World Class Programme at any time in the last two years, to invite them to contribute to a wide-ranging Investigation into the culture of Archery GB's High Performance Unit. The objective of this investigation is to allow anyone connected with the High Performance Unit on any side and at whatever level to comment on the culture within it, without fear or favour. I have hired two external specialist investigators, along with the law firm Sports Resolutions to manage the process.
At the time that I wrote, I was unaware of any allegations surrounding the trip referred to by the BBC in its report. The then CEO, Performance Director, and Chef de Mission have all since left AGB.  I myself joined the organisation a long time after, as an independent director in July 2015.  I became Chair elect at that point, and since becoming Chairman in April 2016 I have hired a new CEO and two new independent directors. Our current Performance Director has been in place since late 2015.
I have been made aware of the allegations alluded to in today's BBC report only since I wrote to people about the review. My understanding from those I have spoken to since is that the allegations were investigated and dealt with at the time to the satisfaction of the alleged victim as well as the Local Authority. Other than a BBC report which we cannot substantiate, that remains the case today. We have not had any contact from the alleged victim indicating that she wishes to re-open the case, nor have we had any contact from the police on this issue.
The current review is independent. I have made clear to all those to whom I wrote that at the conclusion of the investigation, an anonymised report will be submitted to the Board, and Archery GB will consider the full report at the first Board meeting available to it after the report's conclusion. I expect this to be in the second half of this year.
I have committed to publishing the key recommendations from the report (at the same time as we both publish our response and initiate whatever actions we may take as a result of the recommendations), to all those who have contributed to it. In order to allow confidentiality where it is required, I have not committed to publishing the full report.
