Brett Sutton

Brett ("doc") Sutton (born c. 1960) is an Australian triathlon coach and a former professional boxer, boxing coach, greyhound trainer, racehorse trainer and swimming coach, who is the former head coach of the triathlon team teamTBB and is the head coach of Trisutto.com. He has coached many World and Olympic champions, including Ironman world record holder Chrissie Wellington and Olympic champions Nicola Spirig and Emma Snowsill. He is known for his forthright views on training methods and strong criticism of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) and its officials.

In 1999 he pleaded guilty in an Australian court to five sexual offences committed in the late 1980s against a teenage girl swimmer whom he was coaching. After the trial, in which he was given a suspended sentence, he was banned for life from coaching in Australia, and Sutton's marriage ended in divorce. Sutton later remarried, and is now based in Leysin, Switzerland, where he lives with his Swiss wife Fiona and their two daughters.

He has been described as "the coach with the most formidable résumé in triathlon", "widely recognised as one of the best triathlon coaches", and "widely considered to be the best and most unorthodox coach in the sport". Sutton resigned from teamTBB with effect from 1 January 2014.

Sutton grew up, under pressure from a father who was a demanding swim coach, in a harsh environment and an extremely violent home. Although he was a poor swimmer, he started swim coaching at the age of 10. Sutton says he comes from "a long line of coaches" and both his parents were coaches. Sutton was expelled from school at around age 15 for coaching during school time, and immediately started his own swim squad. According to Sutton, the squad was very successful but ran into problems when the parents of his swimmers thought he was too young, so he switched to training greyhounds and racehorses.

Sutton took up boxing in his early 20s. After training dogs and horses, Sutton returned to swim coaching, and became a nationally qualified swimming coach. His appointment as coach to the Australian national triathlon team was controversial, as he had not been to college, nor had he any formal training. Rob Pickard, the high-performance manager of Triathlon Australia before the 2000 Olympics said, "I wasn't on the panel that appointed him, but I was glad it did." He added that unfavourable rumours that Sutton "destroyed" and "brutalised" his athletes were started around the same time by rival coaches, jealous of his appointment. Sutton said, "I have no respect for the coaches who haven't paid their dues. In swimming, coaches work their way up over a 15-year time span. From the age of 15, I was coaching all the time."

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