In last month’s issue of 220 we ran an article titled ‘Building a Champion’, about British triathlete Jodie Stimpson.
The article focused on Stimpson’s results under her new coach, Darren Smith, and stated that she had gone from being a failed Olympic contender in 2012 to one of the country’s biggest Olympic medal hopes for 2016, solely because of the changes Smith had made to her training regime.
The article skirted over significant details about Stimpson’s progression as an athlete prior to 2012, which created the misleading impression that Stimpson had not performed well under the guidance of her previous coach, Michelle Dillon and that this was attributable to her training methods.
Ms Dillon started coaching Stimpson in 2009, soon after she had been dropped by British Triathlon, and her progression under Dillon was evident. She soon became U23 world and European silver medallist, and continued to achieve solid results on both the international and domestic circuit.
As well as playing a crucial role in Jodie’s development, Michelle has also coached several athletes to top international results, including Stuart Hayes to his 2010 Kitzbühel WTS win.
We accept that the article was unbalanced and consequently unfair on Ms Dillon, and we would like to apologise to her for any offence caused. We have the utmost respect for Ms Dillon and her hugely successful coaching outfit.