John Norfolk, Cycling Australia's head of performance pathways and people, is returning to the UK to rejoin British Cycling as head of Tokyo performance planning for next year's Olympics.

The Adelaide newspaper The Advertiser reported on Tuesday that due to visa complications, Norfolk will spend two years in Australia with Cycling Australia performance director Simon Jones and Australian Cycling Team General Manager Paul Brosnan on the senior leadership team before deciding to return to the UK.

According to the paper's website, Norfolk's two-year work visa will expire soon, but rather than risk having his visa renewal denied and having to leave the country immediately, he has decided that the medical needs of his daughter, who suffers from a narrowing of the blood vessels in her brain following a skull fracture she sustained while playing in Australia, have He has chosen to return to England of his own volition.

Norfolk told adelaidenow.com.au that his top priority is his family, but dispelled fears that he would leak Cycling Australia's "secret" so close to the Olympics.

"If someone came over here and said, 'Oh, the Brits are doing this,' you wouldn't change anything, you wouldn't throw out your current plans based on someone else's research," Norfolk said. 'On the flip side, when I came over here from England, we had the same conversation: oh, am I going to give away all their secrets, except for my experience at GB and my awareness of problem solving, which has helped me very little at GB

"With Simon (Jones), we had the right We had a conversation that made me feel like I did the right thing. Cycling is a small place, and I don't want to go to any velodrome in the world and have no enemies. But I understand that it might be a little uncomfortable for some people.

"A team's performance is not due to one person," Jones told the Advertiser. There are always challenges, and we take them, deal with them, and move on." We don't dwell on it." [But I've been aware of this [Norfolk's visa situation] for a long time, and I'm more frustrated with the [visa] process because we want to hire the best people."

Steve Drake, chief executive of Cycling Australia, said, "He's had a notice period with us.

"We really wanted John to stay. He's a quality guy and did a good job, but he needed a plan B. He was a good man. But I don't believe that one person can make the difference between winning or losing in Tokyo."