New Zealand’s Olympic pole vault coach Jeremy McColl has been banned from athletics for 10 years. After an investigation found he had committed serious misconduct the sentence was handed down. The charges included harassment and inappropriate sexual remarks to athletes who were minors.

McColl, who is known to have guided Eliza McCartney to an Olympic bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, was stood down by New Zealand Athletics last month. During that time, an independent investigator had assessed several complaints against him, Reuters reports.

Governing body Athletics New Zealand announced the investigation found that McColl made inappropriate comments to athletes in training sessions and via social media and text messages.

“Aggravating features of the conduct included that communication with athletes included inappropriate sexual references and that a number of the athletes were minors,” Athletics NZ said in a statement.

It added that McColl cooperated with the investigation and, following receipt of its findings, tendered his resignation.

“I unreservedly apologise for the harm caused to these athletes and recognise that my conduct was not in line with Athletics NZ’s policies or rules and was harmful and inappropriate,” McColl said in the Athletics NZ statement.

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