Sports Chairperson Profile: 
Tony Yorke

Tony Yorke is IPC Cycling Chairperson and a Member of the International Cycling Union’s Commission for Disability Cycling. This lifetime cyclist and coach shares his experiences in the sport in the following interview.

The Paralympian: Where does cycling stand as a Paralympic sport today? What are some of the new developments?

Tony Yorke: The Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games demonstrated the true potential for IPC Cycling. For the first time, the sport received blanket television and media coverage, no doubt due to the expectation of superb performances from the Australian cyclists, and IPC Cycling as a whole gained from the exposure. In particular, the track competition at the Bankstown Olympic Velodrome was truly spectacular and the results were of an amazingly high standard with 12 World and 6 Paralympic records broken. Spectators were near to capacity for most sessions, despite Bankstown being some distance from Homebush Olympic Park. For the road events, the beautiful Centennial Park venue was close to ideal, with hundreds of schoolchildren cheering wildly. The road races proved to be tactical battles rather than high-speed races, due to the relatively small fields in each class. The IPC Cycling Committee is considering rule changes to provide more spectator appeal without detracting from the importance of the competition.

The Sydney 2000 Cycling Sport Assembly (SA) will in the future be viewed as a landmark in the development of IPC Cycling. The Cycling SAEC proposed a complete revision of the IPC Cycling Rules contained in 56 agenda motions. Several nations and IOSDs also proposed rule changes. However, the delegates present were ready to vote for radical changes and the daunting agenda was completed in 4½ hours. Rules for handcycling were agreed and the Committee has asked for handcycling events to be on the Athens competition program.

The SA endorsed the continued use of the International Cycling Union’s Regulations (UCI is the able-bodied international federation) to control most technical aspects of IPC Cycling. Also, there was agreement for the SAEC to negotiate an “Agreement of Cooperation” with the UCI with the view to total integration of IPC Cycling’s Technical Rules into the UCI’s Technical Regulations. It is understood that the UCI would welcome such an approach from IPC Cycling. The UCI is prepared to incorporate and develop rules for the conduct of all cycling activities and this could embrace all cyclists with disabilities, including handcycling and disability groups not currently affiliated to the IPC.

TP: In which areas is more development needed? What about the participation of female athletes?

TY: In common with many sports, cycling does not attract enough women athletes. The SA approved rule changes to allow mixed racing to continue, but in future, separate events for women in any class will be provided when more than six women from four countries are entered. It is hoped that this measure will encourage more women to try cycle racing. The SAEC is also following the IPC Executive lead by establishing a Women’s Cycling Workgroup to develop ideas for the recruitment of women athletes into the sport.

TP: Which are the strongest nations? Are there a few excellent athletes who stand out in the competitions?

TY: It is not often realized that cycling is a truly global sport. The UCI has over 170 nations affiliated, making it one of the biggest international sport federations. Currently, IPC Cycling has only 33 nations recognized as widely practicing disability cycling. Future close links with the UCI should provide an opportunity for considerable expansion through direct contact with national cycling federations.

Paralympic cycling medals cover a very wide range of countries with 19 nations taking medals at Sydney 2000. With tremendous strength in depth, Australia has been particularly dominant over the last few years and as might be expected, Europe and North America are generally strong. However, there are outstanding individual athletes from other countries such as Belarus, Japan, Korea, South Africa and New Zealand. Athletes whose performances I have admired for a long time include: Francisco Trujillo (France), Jan Mulder (Netherlands), Wolfgang Eibeck (Austria), Thomas Evans (Great Britain), Peter Homann (Australia) and Michal Stark (Czech Republic). More recent riders setting new standards include Jiri Jezek (Czech Republic), Beat Schwarzenbach (Switzerland), Sarnya Parker (Australia) and indeed most Australians!

TP: How would you describe the relationship with Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)? Do you think this could be a model for other sports as well?

TY: IPC Cycling is a multidisability sport and with the introduction of handcycling for wheelchair users, the sport will be able to cater for (almost) all disabilities, including those not under IPC control. It is fortunate that disability cycling is identical to able-bodied cycling and exactly the same rules are used for competition. Because of this long-standing sport-specific approach, it is logical for an inclusive relationship to be developed with the UCI. I have been a member of the UCI’s Commission for Disability Cycling since 1994 and with my election as Chairman of the IPC Cycling SAEC, I am uniquely placed to help facilitate closer cooperation between UCI and IPC. Dr. Pieter Zevenbergen, Member of the UCI Management Committee, has regularly attended IPC SAEC Meetings, so in effect the UCI Disability Commission and the IPC SAEC have worked as one for some time now. It is hoped that written agreements with the UCI will be in place by Autumn 2001. Because IPC Cycling is not an adapted sport and with the uniqueness of the relationship between IPC and UCI through my parallel positions, the model that IPC Cycling is hoping to achieve may not be possible for many other IPC Sports.

In cycling, the pressure is from the athletes. They want to be acknowledged as serious cyclists who happen to have a disability, not “disabled cyclists”. Most believe that formal recognition by the UCI will give increased credibility. The UCI, as a major international sport federation, has a policy of gathering all disciplines of cycling under its control where possible. Therefore, it is logical to bring disability cycling under UCI control with the agreement of the IPC and other relevant disability organizations. It must be remembered that disability discrimination laws are now a fact of life in most developed countries. That is why I believe that all international sport federations will soon have to acknowledge sport for athletes with disabilities, whether they want to or not. Cycling and one or two other sports just happen to be a little ahead of the game.

TP: What are your tasks for the next three years leading up to Athens 2004? What about events such as the World and Regional Championships?

TY: After a period of stagnation, IPC Cycling is now pushing forward. There is a new enthusiastic SAEC, the much-needed new rules were approved at the Sydney SA and with the impending cooperation with UCI, real progress is being made. However, the Committee is not complacent. A ranking system is urgently required and this should be launched during June 2001. There will be an IPC Open European Championship in Switzerland during September 2001 and an IPC World Championship in Germany in August 2002. However, Regional Championships, other than Europe, are desperately required if the proposed ranking system is to work on a global basis. The Committee is hoping that the ranking system will be the catalyst to get Regional Championships established. Also, we need the ranking system data to form a fair basis for the allocation of places for Athens 2004. The quota system used for the last two Paralympic Games was severely criticized by several nations, with justification.

The Committee has a project using a Classification Workgroup to investigate the feasibility of functional classification for IPC Cycling. The plan is to try to run a trial alongside the existing system at the track events of the 2002 World Championships. In this way, from the times of races, we should be able to assess whether a functional system would lead to a more fair competition. If the result is positive, it is hoped to place a proposal to adopt a functional classification system before the SA in Athens 2004.

TP: What have been the Cycling Committee’s achievements during the last years?

TY: I would like to pay tribute to the work of the members of the IPC Cycling SAEC. The work is ongoing, but the new IPC Cycling Rules, the integration and development of handcycling, the development of a ranking system, the move towards a cooperative agreement with the UCI, the Functional Classification Project and the plans for the setting up of Workgroups for Classification, Women, Severely Disabled, Handcycling and International Competition, are all projects with great merit.

TP: How did you get involved in this sport? What do you do when you are not doing volunteer work for cycling? What are some challenges of the position as Sports Chairperson?

TY: My close family is the most important part of my life and fortunately, members share or support my cycling interests. I have been a lifelong cyclist and I still ride a bike as often as possible, although not often enough! I first qualified as a cycling coach in the early 1970s and I worked voluntarily as a coach and team manager with international British cyclists from junior level to professionals for many years. I first worked professionally for the British Cycling Federation (BCF) about 12 years ago, after a long career in manufacturing management. I became involved with disability cycling after I was asked to follow up a casual enquiry from a disabled cyclist to the BCF and I found that I enjoyed the new challenge. Later, I went on to be the Great Britain Cycling Team Manager at the Barcelona and Atlanta Paralympic Games. Although I no longer work full-time, I do the occasional job connected to cycling. A current project is the development of an integrated cycling club at a local school with a special disability unit. Together with volunteer assistance, I coach some pupils with disabilities in handcycling and the able-bodied in mountain biking and road riding.

The amount of work expected of IPC Sport Committees, particularly the chairmen/women, is enormous for volunteers. No doubt at some stage in the future, at the very least the sport chairman’s role will need to be a paid position, but probably not in my time, unfortunately! The IPC Cycling SAEC has done a magnificent job in reviving the fortunes of IPC Cycling and I am confident that there will be many more achievements over the remaining three years of the current quadrennial.