Zara Hyde Peters loses top UK Athletics job over claims about husband
Written by News on 25/11/2019
Former distance runner Zara Hyde Peters will no longer take up the position of UK Athletics’ chief executive after allegations about her husband came to light.
Hyde Peters had been due to start work as the governing body’s new boss on 1 December but its chairman Chris Clark says that will not happen now.
It follows a report in The Times newspaper alleging that her husband, Mike Peters, was allowed to continue as a coach at Coventry Godiva Harriers despite being banned from teaching for an “inappropriate relationship” with a 15-year-old schoolgirl.
Hyde Peters had been vice-chair of Coventry Godiva Harriers at the time.
In a statement, Mr Clark said: “Following recent press reports and significant media attention focused on Zara Hyde Peters the UK Athletics’ board convened a meeting this past Sunday 24 November and discussed the situation fully.
“Following the meeting I had time with Zara to review the situation and we have agreed together, that she will now not be taking up her position as CEO on 1 December.”
The Times has claimed that, although Hyde Peters knew her husband had been permanently barred from teaching in October 2012, he was allowed to carry on in his role as coach at Coventry Godiva Harriers between 2012 and 2017.
Peters was banned from teaching PE after being found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct following an “inappropriate relationship” at Bilton School in Rugby between 2004 and 2005. He was cleared of sexual misconduct.
Hyde Peters is on the board of directors for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and is also chair of the 2022 Games’ athletes commission, a role she took up last month.
It is understood that the Commonwealth Games Federation has been in contact with Birmingham 2022 recommending Hyde Peters be temporarily suspended pending an investigation into the matter, the Press Association news agency reported.
Hyde Peters spent a successful spell leading British Triathlon as chief executive from 2008 to 2014 before taking on leadership positions within the NHS.
Her career as an elite athlete saw her represent Great Britain in endurance events during the 1990s and compete for England in the 1994 Commonwealth Games 10,000m.
She received an OBE for services to athletics and triathlon in 2010.
The decision not to appoint Hyde Peters as UK Athletics’ chief executive comes soon after Neil Black stood down as performance director at the end of October.
Black reviewed his position after the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) handed a four-year ban to Sir Mo Farah’s former coach Alberto Salazar over doping violations.
USADA’s investigation into Salazar began in 2015 and at that point UK Athletics reviewed Farah’s links with the American coach and allowed the relationship to continue.
Farah, who trained under Salazar at the Nike Oregon Project from 2011 to 2017, said after Salazar’s ban was announced that he had “no tolerance for anyone who breaks the rules or crosses a line”.
There has never been any accusation of wrongdoing made against Farah, the four-time Olympic champion.
(c) Sky News 2019: Zara Hyde Peters loses top UK Athletics job over claims about husband
