‘Liv is cost of this’: Podmore’s mum on Cycling NZ report
Olivia Podmore’s mother Nienke spent yesterday trying to absorb the lengthy report into Cycling NZ spurred by the death of her daughter.
Despite being nowhere near through its 120-odd pages, Nienke and her husband Chris Middleton were already filled with anger and frustration at the sporting organisation’s failures detailed in the report.
Failures to recruit suitable coaches, concern over young women travelling to the Cambridge High Performance Sport NZ base and the centre’s future as a fit model for athlete welfare, favouritism towards certain athletes from coaches, and a concerning history of athlete nondisclosure agreements were all covered within it, Nienke told the Herald on Sunday.
The emphasis placed on medals and performance above all else in the Cycling NZ high performance model was also a central criticism in the findings, she said.
“I’m just really sad, because Liv is the cost of this,” Nienke said.
Podmore, an Olympic cyclist at the Rio Games, died in a suspected suicide last August and the findings of an inquiry into Cycling NZ following her death is due to be released publicly tomorrow.
According to the Middletons, the independent report delivered by Mike Heron QC and Massey Professor Sarah Leberman makes it clear Cycling NZ failed to implement the recommended changes from a previous 2018 inquiry into its culture.
Among the most concerning alleged findings was an admission that Cycling NZ had done a poor job in its recruitment of coaches since the 2018 report.
Since the commissioning of the latest report, Cycling NZ chief executive Jacques Landry, high performance director Martin Barras, and head sprint coach Rene Wolff have resigned from the organisation.
Nienke and Chris Middleton’s opinions on the contents of the report were also coloured by a meeting on Friday with Sport NZ chief executive Raelene Castle, Cycling NZ board chairman Phil Holden, Heron and Leberman.
“They were scathing on recruitment [of coaches],” Middleton said of their meeting.
Nienke also believed the report did not properly delve into the 2016 Bordeaux Cycling NZ training camp controversy, which she felt was key to what she claimed was the mistreatment of her daughter by Cycling NZ.
The 2018 Heron review was commissioned in the fallout of an inappropriate relationship between Cycling NZ coach Anthony Peden and an athlete being exposed at the camp.
Last year, the Herald revealed Podmore was pressured to lie by Cycling NZ management afterwards.
Podmore was not the athlete in the relationship.
Nienke was also angry Friday’s meeting was the first time she had met Castle and Holden in person since her daughter’s death.
“We were just sent an email [from Cycling NZ management] following Olivia’s death. That is just horrific. They should have been on our door in the following days.”
Sport NZ says Nienke was invited to a meeting with Castle the day before Podmore’s funeral at which Chris Middleton attended. However, Nienke did not attend.
A medical report on Podmore would be delivered in about the next six weeks.
Despite Nienke’s anger at many aspects of the report into Cycling NZ she says the new recommendations look “promising” — depending on their implementation.