Athletics Australia's British head coach Eric Hollingsworth has been sent back to Oz from the Commonwealth Games after his outspoken attack on Olympic sprint hurdles champion Sally Pearson.

Hollingsworth labelled Pearson, who is the defending champion in Glasgow, a "bad example", highlighting his anger that she did not attend the team's pre-Games training camp.

Australian Commonwealth Games Association chef de mission Steve Moneghetti announced at a press conference this morning that Hollingsworth had been stripped of his accreditation and would travel back to Australia at the earliest opportunity.

Moneghetti said: “There was a breach in our team agreement with one of our members of the team, specifically the head coach of the athletics section.

“We invited that person in to explain that breach in the contract and we decided that there was reason enough to impost some sanctions on the actions taken by Eric Hollingsworth and we then spoke to the section manager from athletics to decide on an appropriate sanction.

“As a result of that Athletics Australia withdrew Eric’s nomination as head coach of the athletics section of the Australia’s Commonwealth Games team and this led to us revoking his accreditation. We’ve made arrangements for Eric to travel back to Australia at an appropriate time.

“He is going home today, if we can get some flights arranged. He will leave the Games in Glasgow as soon as it’s logical and possible.”