Carter apologises, resigns over ‘genuine mistake’
Hamish Carter has resigned from High Performance Sport New Zealand, 10 days after he was fingered in a hard-hitting report into dysfunction in Cycling New Zealand’s programme.
Olympic triathlon gold medallist Carter – who worked alongside CNZ – acknowledged responsibility for his mistake in disclosing interview summaries to Cycling NZ’s former sprint coach Anthony Peden.
‘‘I want to assure all athletes and other stakeholders with whom I have worked over the years that my over-arching priority has always been to support them and their success,’’ he said.
In his report this month, lawyer Michael Heron said an unnamed HPSNZ staff member – the ‘‘sprint team reviewer’’, now known to be Carter – agreed he had released confidential athlete and staff interviews to Peden.
HPSNZ chief executive Michael Scott said at the time the leak was the area which concerned him the most and ‘‘a process has commenced with the individual concerned’’.
Carter said yesterday he had made a mistake, with Scott saying the decision to leave was Carter’s.
‘‘I accept full responsibility for that genuine mistake. I want to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise to those athletes and staff affected by my error,’’ Carter wrote in a statement.
Carter, 47, is one of New Zealand’s outstanding athletes. He won gold in the 2004 Athens Olympic triathlon, and was New Zealand Sportsman of the Year that year.
CNZ had no comment on Carter’s decision to step down.