Olympic 1500m silver medallist Laura Muir has waived her right to anonymity regarding a case involving a former coach who has been banned for three years for serious misconduct.
Andy Young, a former coach of Muir, has been banned from athletics for three years after being found guilty of serious misconduct.
UK Athletics (UKA) announced that a disciplinary panel had found Young - who was Muir's coach when she won Olympic 1500 metres silver in Tokyo in 2021 - guilty of nine charges out of 39 he had faced, seven of them serious.
The panel's written decision of October 2024 was appealed, with an appeal panel confirming the original panel's findings in full in August but varying the initial sanction from five years to three years, backdated to April 2023.
Muir was coached by Young for 12 years before they split in 2023 with Muir leaving a training camp in South Africa due to disagreements between the pair and other athletes in the group.
In September 2024, UKA considered 39 charges against Young and found nine proven with seven of them serious.
That UKA Panel concluded that Young had, on multiple occasions, placed performance above athlete welfare, ignored medical advice, and used manipulative and coercive behaviour towards those he coached. In its ruling, the Panel described his actions as "conduct exerted pressure sufficient to vitiate the Athletes' free will".
Examples included requiring an athlete to compete against the clear advice of a physiotherapist, threatening to exclude athletes from training or races if they did not comply with his demands, and emotionally undermining those who raised concerns about injuries.
Another charge highlighted an incident in which Young, following a disagreement, drove at speed with an athlete in his car before abandoning them at the roadside, disregarding their safety and wellbeing.
The UKA Panel suspended Young's coaching licence for five years (backdated to 2023), concluding he "placed the welfare and safety of the athlete above the development of performance".
Young appealed this decision and in August this year an Independent Appeal Panel concluded a slightly lesser view of the gravity of the misconduct overall, but rejected claims of bias, legal error and unfairness. It confirmed the misconduct findings in full, agreeing with the UKA Panel that seven of the breaches were serious.
The Independent Appeals Panel reduced Young's suspension from five years to three (still backdated to 2023) and he will have to undergo 'specific rehabilitative training' before any return to coaching is considered.
Following the conclusion of the Panels findings, Muir said: "I have chosen to waive my anonymity and confirm my involvement in this case. I fully support the decisions reached by both independent panels and I am grateful that the process has been followed through so thoroughly.
"I want to thank those who came forward and those who contributed to the process - it has not been easy, but it was necessary.
"Athletics has always been my passion, and I am pleased to say that I have rediscovered the love of my sport and the enjoyment of training and working within a supportive and positive coaching environment. I am now focused on the future, looking forward to the next few years of my career, and putting this difficult chapter firmly behind me."
Jack Buckner, the Chief Executive of UKA, added; "This has been a difficult and sobering case for everyone involved in athletics.
"There is no level of success on the track which can ever justify behaviours that fall so short of the standards required of a UKA licensed coach. This case underlines that performance and medals can never come at the expense of athlete welfare.
"Significant culture change has already taken place within UKA. The emphasis on welfare and respect has been further driven from the leadership of Paula Dunn and the performance team. We have strengthened reporting systems, expanded welfare support, and ensured independent expertise and support is available when concerns are raised.
"We are grateful to the athletes who showed courage in coming forward - their actions have ensured that unacceptable conduct has been exposed and addressed.
"Looking ahead, we are determined to continue building on this progress. We are in active dialogue with coaches and have launched a new coaching group, making clear that we want to support and celebrate the very best coaches - those who achieve success in the right way, with athlete welfare at the centre of their practice. That is how our sport will thrive in the future."
