UK Sport accuses British Cycling of covering up a 2012 report into bullying

That report was conducted by former British Cycling chief executive Peter King on behalf of his successor Ian Drake, who left the organisation earlier this year.

King's report, which was completed in November 2012 and has never been published, identified some of the same inappropriate behaviour in the elite set-up that an independent review, co-commissioned by British Cycling and funding agency UK Sport, has spent the last 10 months investigating.

That review, led by British Rowing chair Annamarie Phelps, was sparked when former GB rider Jess Varnish accused ex-technical director Shane Sutton of using sexist language and cutting her funding because she criticised coaches - claims he strongly denies.

Varnish's allegations, however, prompted others to speak out with claims of bias and bullying, most notably Paralympic star Darren Kenny and double Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton.

Phelps' report is now three months late as her panel initially struggled with the sheer volume of testimony and is now embroiled in a dispute about how much of the report should be made public. And who knew what about the King report, and when, is one of the most contentious issues.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Nicholl said: "We were aware of it, but we had no knowledge of the significance of it. What we received from British Cycling at the time was a summary (of it)."

When asked if this summary was "watered down", Nicholl said: " If you'd like to use that term. We received a summary of what the report was saying (and) it did not raise any alarm bells at all."

Nicholl, whose agency gave British Cycling £30.6million in December 2012 for its preparations for the Rio Games, explained UK Sport had already asked management consultancy firm Deloitte to conduct a review of the links between British Cycling and Team Sky, the professional road race outfit, and considered it "a good thing" that the governing body was doing its own assessment.

That opinion, however, changed when Phelps started to uncover what was really in the King report.

A Freedom of Information Act request by Press Association Sport has revealed UK Sport did not even ask British Cycling for the full report until last June, a lack of curiosity that would appear to raise questions about UK Sport's oversight of its almost £140million annual budget.

As well as the FOI material, PA Sport has spoken to more than a dozen athletes, coaches and officials who have given evidence to Phelps, several of whom also spoke to King.

They said they told King that Sutton, a matter-of-fact Australian, was a fine coach but unsuitable for the top job because of his sometimes abrasive approach. Sutton, however, effectively replaced his friend Sir Dave Brailsford when the latter gave up the British Cycling performance director role to concentrate on Team Sky in 2014.

Nicholl finally asked Drake, who was responsible for managing UK Sport's grants to British Cycling, for the King report when British Cycling director Marion Lauder emailed her to say it could be relevant to the Phelps review as it identified "behavioural and management issues".

Drake eventually gave Nicholl and Phelps the King report in July, but only after receiving an assurance its contents would be kept confidential.

Asked on Monday if the full report did not tally with what she was given in 2012, Nicholl said: "Yes, (and) that's a complete lack of transparency and a relationship that is not acceptable in terms of what was shared with us as opposed to what the actual facts of that report were."

When asked by reporters if she thought that amounted to a "cover-up", Nicholl nodded, which she repeated when asked again.

"I mean we wouldn't expect that to happen, we would've expected to receive the full report at the time," said Nicholl, adding she has made this point to Phelps in her testimony to the independent review.

In contrast, Nicholl said UK Sport has received a full copy of the recent report into allegations of bullying within the British rowing team.

Attempts to contact Drake, who in October announced his intention to step down in April but then left three months early, have been unsuccessful.

But King said he was unaware of which version of his report was shared with UK Sport.

"What I do know is that a lot of people told me things in my report that they would have expected to see acted upon. And I don't want them to think it was my fault that they haven't been," said King.

A British Cycling spokesman confirmed Drake asked King to assess the " UK Sport-funded world class programme" after London 2012 and "contributions were made with a guarantee of anonymity, so key findings and recommendations were shared in briefings with UK Sport and the British Cycling board".

The spokesman said the report has now been shared with the independent review and British Cycling and UK Sport are working with the panel on its publication. He added that "s ignificant restructuring" at the governing body was already under way, with a new chairman in place, a new chief executive set to be named and a new performance director starting soon.

But the fact there had been complaints about British Cycling's culture before last April should not have come as a shock to UK Sport - it did not surprise the British Athletes Commission (BAC), the independent members' association for Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

In an email seen by PA Sport from BAC chief executive Ian Braid to UK Sport on April 25, two days after Varnish's claims about Sutton first appeared in the Daily Mail, he wrote: "I am currently dealing with another cyclist case of alleged discrimination and bullying and I am anticipating another new case coming forward this week.

"Those athletes that are currently still in the cycling programme are very fearful of coming forward because of it being a risk to their own selections for the Games but are struggling in the performance environment in cycling and have been for a while.

"I don't believe Jess (Varnish's) case is an isolated incident."