Emma Raducanu’s former coach Dmitry Tursunov says he left because of ‘red flags’
Emma Raducanu’s former coach Dmitry Tursunov has said he left the Olympian after’red flags’ emerged regarding her mental health. He also said he felt she was ’emotionally unstable’, but added he would be happy to help coach her again.
It comes a day after Olympic Committee president Sebastian Coe revealed his former Olympian was’mentally unstable’. Last month she revealed she’d suffered from an eating disorder for the same reasons she was suspended from the Games, but had since recovered.
She had already spoken about what had gone on after her disqualification in May, saying: “My body has become a witness, I’ve been writing emails again, I’ve learned to speak again, I don’t want to stop because I’m happy.”
Coelphin-born Raducanu was banned in May after failing a drugs test, but her coach Dmitry Tursunov told the BBC that he was ‘blessed’ with the decision.
Dmitry Tursunov was Emma Raducanu’s coach
He said he was working with a psychiatrist in America and the drugs came back negative, but because he was told that other athletes had failed doping tests, he told Emma to leave the team.
“My coach told me that he would be happier to help with a second coach of me to continue the Olympic cycle,” he said.
“That was the time to leave and that was the time when red flags came out.
“I saw her not on my bench and her mood became not good. Then I wanted to make a career with my children, but I decided that I could live only by my family.
Tursunov said he was working with a psychiatrist in America
“I know that the most important thing in the Olympics is to overcome, it is the Olympics but also training, and I think she is a strong athlete.”
Later Tursunov told Sky Sports he was told by officials that Emma had been “mentally unstable” since the Olympic Games and had been suspended pending further testing.
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