World sport is braced for a deluge of rugby-style lawsuits over head injury neglect.
Sportsmail understands the governing bodies of football – which is battling a dementia crisis – and rugby league will be the next to face legal action for past negligence as early as next year. But several other organisations fear they may also be challenged over what is a global sporting scandal.
So what exactly is the situation in cycling? Sportsmail delves deeper…
WHAT ARE THE CASES?
The sport of cycling was shaken last year when Olympic medallist Kelly Catlin took her own life — two months after suffering a concussion.
Catlin, part of the American quartet beaten by Laura Kenny’s Great Britain in the Rio 2016 team pursuit final, crashed on a road ride in January 2019, banging her head and cracking her helmet.
The three-time world champion returned to training almost immediately after her accident but became depressed. She was found dead in her Stanford University apartment in March, aged 23.
The cycling world was shocked when US Olympian Kelly Catlin committed suicide in 2019
‘Kelly did not have any underlying mental illness,’ her father Mark told Sportsmail.
‘The concussion changed her behaviour profoundly. She became moody, prone to fits of anger and bouts of depression. That was in part due to severe headaches and frustration with an inability to train.
‘She felt she was going crazy. She felt trapped by expectations from family, friends and team-mates. Unable to meet those perceived expectations, she ended her life.’
Mark believes Kelly got back on a bike too soon after her injury, and again after she was prematurely released from a psychiatric ward following a first suicide attempt at the end of January.
‘I am not aware of anyone talking to her coach regarding a return to competition protocol and how it should be managed,’ he added. ‘There was a complete failure of communication. Her death is an indictment of a medical infrastructure that fails our finest athletes.’
Catlin was part of the USA quartet beaten by Great Britain in the Rio 2016 team pursuit final
It was hoped Kelly’s suicide would shock cycling into action. But incidents in all three of this year’s men’s Grand Tours showed the sport is still behind the times.
At the Tour de France, Romain Bardet finished stage 13 despite suffering a bleed on the brain after a crash. He was ruled out of the rest of the race that night.
Pieter Weening hit his head on the road on stage four of the Giro d’Italia and was visibly dazed as he continued riding, before pulling out the next day. Hector Saez completed stage nine of the Vuelta a Espana despite destroying his helmet in a crash. He withdrew two days later.
‘Cycling is lagging miles behind other sports,’ said Luke Griggs, deputy chief executive of brain injury charity Headway. ‘The risks of suffering a second crash, and putting yourself and others in more danger, are obviously far higher when a rider is concussed. It is simply an unacceptable level of risk.’
Romain Bardet finished stage 13 of the Tour de France despite suffering a bleed on the brain
WHAT IS BEING DONE?
Shamefully, there is still no internationally agreed assessment protocol for concussion in cycling.
The UCI, the world governing body, only recommend using SCAT5 — a standardised tool for all sports — to assess head injuries. But the British Medical Journal have found this ‘impractical’ and ‘requiring modification’ for road cycling.
Dr Nigel Jones, head of medical services for the GB cycling team, admits he was ‘surprised at the absence of robust policies’ when he joined in 2017.
But he used his experience as the England rugby team doctor to introduce a concussion policy at British Cycling, including a return-to-ride protocol, and has improved rider education.
‘In rugby you have to be symptom-free before you start your return-to-play protocol and we have put something similar in place,’ said Jones.
WHAT MORE CAN BE DONE?
Jones is leading the way in the sport and has been asked by the UCI to sit on a new concussion management working group. He has ideas, including an independent concussion car for road races, which would have avoided the incidents in the Grand Tours.
GB cycling head of medical services Dr Nigel Jones (pictured working for England Rugby in 2016), admits he was ‘surprised at the absence of robust policies’ when he joined in 2017
‘The first thing that happens when somebody crashes in a road race is a panic to get them back on the bike as quickly as possible,’ he admitted. ‘If you had a concussion car and a rider crashed, they would go into it and have a head injury assessment.
‘If it is deemed the rider hasn’t had a concussion, the car tows them back into the peloton. Then you are not having that panic that if someone falls and they are not back on their bike within 30 seconds, it is stage over.’
Jones believes a lack of footage of incidents is part of the problem and has spoken to Hawk-Eye about how they could introduce concussion video assessments in track cycling.
As for cycling and dementia links, there is a lack of evidence. Mark Catlin has donated Kelly’s brain to Boston University and hopes the results of her brain study can ‘save future athletes from a far too common fate’.
Jones added: ‘Cycling is littered with riders whose careers are being limited by concussions. But their career is secondary to their long-term health.’
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