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Toni Minichiello became Britain's first celebrity coach but his legacy will be forever tarnished

Toni Minichiello - AP
Toni Minichiello - AP

Given athletics’ low profile relative to Britain’s most popular sports, it is tricky enough to gain public prominence as an athlete in this country, let alone a coach. Toni Minichiello is almost the sole exception.

Capitalising on his association with Olympic and world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, Minichiello did what almost no other athletics coach has managed and made a name for himself in his own right. He effectively became the sport’s only celebrity coach.

He was revered - as various prizes and accolades attest - as one of the country’s most respected coaches, employed by the BBC as an expert analyst and welcomed into the business world to impart his knowledge at corporate events countrywide.

From such heights, his lifetime ban for inappropriate “sexually physical behaviour” with female athletes - among other offences towards multiple complainants - is a stagerring fall from grace.

Having met Ennis-Hill when she was just 10, he personally moulded and guided her for the entirety of her career. Their working relationship was often a subject of fascination. Where she was the charming, smiling, quietly steely public face of the pair, he was the gruff, old-school workhorse who drove her to great heights.

Speaking to the Telegraph in 2012, Minichiello likened their relationship to “a bickering old couple”, him constantly hounding, and her lashing out verbally in response.

Encounter the two of them together and Ennis-Hill would often roll her eyes playfully at something he might say, like a daughter might to their embarrassing father. There was fondness in their bickering. They were not particularly close away from the track, but they maintained huge respect for one another.

Minichiello and Jessica Ennis-Hill during their time as coach and athlete - PA
Minichiello and Jessica Ennis-Hill during their time as coach and athlete - PA

When Ennis-Hill was faced with pressure from the UK Athletics hierarchy to leave their Sheffield base and relocate to London to train ahead of the 2012 Olympics, it was Minichiello who helped push back.

After Ennis-Hill won gold at those London Games, Minichiello was named coach of the year at the UK Coaching Awards, and he would go on to guide her to Olympic silver in 2016 when she returned from giving birth.

According to the shocking UK Athletics panel ruling, he breached his coaching licence throughout that entire period, with “inappropriate sexual references and gestures”, “sexually physical behaviour” and “bullying and emotional abuse”. Ennis-Hill, who is understood not to be one of the athletes involved in the case, has said she is "shocked and upset" after the verdict.

While the Telegraph understands a complaint was previously made to the governing body about Minichiello after he made an inappropriate comment to an audience member during a coaches conference, only once was any similar allegation made public.

In 2017, Minichiello received an official warning from UK Athletics for using abusive language towards one of his former female athletes, allegedly telling them: “Get off the track, you’re not allowed on here and it’s my track, f--- off.” He called the accusations “insulting and inaccurate”.

Even after that incident emerged and Ennis-Hill retired, Minichiello’s stock continued to rise, despite operating predominantly with athletes below senior international level in the years that followed.

He was lauded for his insight into field events when used as a BBC expert analyst at the 2019 World Championships. The following year, he made the shortlist and was interviewed for the role of UK Athletics Olympics head coach, but was beaten to the position by former sprinter Christian Malcolm.

It was not a surprising snub for a man who has often been publicly critical of the governing body, even while serving on their members’ council.

When Niamh Emerson, touted as Britain’s most promising young multi-eventer, was looking for a new set-up in early 2021, she chose Minichiello as coach, with Ennis-Hill providing help as mentor.

Emerson was one of a number of athletes forced to find alternative coaching when Minichiello was provisionally suspended pending full investigation last year. That provisional suspension was only made public when he breached the terms of the suspension and was caught continuing to coach athletes in Sheffield. Minichiello has always strongly denied the allegations.

He remained chair of the British Basketball Federation until leaving the role earlier this year, although he still sits on the federation’s board.

It is a packed CV that has propelled him into the public consciousness over the past 15 years, using his work with Ennis-Hill to reach a realm almost no other British athletics coach has managed. Now, it seems, there was something more sinister going on behind the scenes, which will tarnish his legacy forever.