Treatment of elite athletes angers staff at govt agency
HPSNZ employees question their own organisation’s commitment to athlete welfare. By Dana Johannsen.
High Performance Sport NZ is facing a revolt within its ranks for its failure to take decisive action over concerns of an athlete- welfare crisis within Canoe Racing NZ.
Some at the government agency claim there has long been a ‘‘ disconnect’’ between the senior leadership of High Performance Sport and service providers working with the athletes in their training environments.
That divide appears to have deepened after the Sunday StarTimes published an investigation into the women’s highperformance canoeing programme, revealing six of the nine members of the 2017/18 squad have quit in the past 18 months amid allegations of bullying, intimidation and manipulation.
The investigation exposed serious governance failings within High Performance Sport, with a physiotherapist once embedded in the canoe racing programme describing the lack of accountability for athlete welfare across the system as ‘‘ f... ing horrifying’’.
The Star-Times has since spoken with six past and present HPSNZ employees who reiterated the same concerns over the agency’s commitment to athlete welfare. All spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of damaging their their career prospects.
Chief executive Michael Scott maintains everyone in his organisation shares a ‘‘ 100 per cent commitment to the athletes’’.
The Star-Times is now aware of at least four people who escalated issues about the canoe racing programme to senior leaders at High Performance Sport, including one who went directly to Scott in 2018.
The staff, who have all worked in the agency’s performance support team, are furious senior leadership are not only prepared to dismiss the concerns of the athletes, it is also ignoring the advice of its own experts on the ground.
‘‘We were yelling out for a full investigation of the programme. The reply was very clear – we’ve already had an external review of cycling and triathlon, we’re not having another one. I took the inference from that to be they did not want the publicity,’’ said one.
‘‘The idea that they have taken ‘ proactive steps’ is so, so far removed from reality,’’ he added, referring to Scott’s statement last week in response to the allegations.
Another claims he also raised his concerns about canoe racing’s culture ‘‘further up the chain’’.
‘‘We’ve been saying for years that something needed to be done about that environment.
‘‘ It is supposed to be an ‘athlete-centred system’. It absolutely is not.’’
He added he found Scott’s characterisation of the athletes’ experience as ‘‘ not wholly positive’’ to be offensive.
‘‘To minimise the issues that have been going on, when they know full well the extent of them, that’s pretty irresponsible in my view.’’
Their comments follow those of a former physiotherapist who was embedded in the CRNZ programme. She quit in April 2019, as she ‘‘did not want to be complicit in the way the system was being run’’.
‘‘ It’s just f . . . ing horrifying that they’re more concerned about the results than these warning signs of serious mental health issues that more than one athlete within that programme have demonstrated,’’ she says.
Asked why High Performance Sport continually ignored the advice of staff working with athletes in the canoe racing programme, Scott admitted there had been disagreements, but their concerns have ‘‘ not gone unaddressed’’.
‘‘As with any workplace, there are times when opinions differ. That has been the case on this particular programme, but we have made genuine efforts to explore this in order to resolve the challenges faced,’’ he said in a statement.
Scott said he met some of the remaining athletes in the women’s canoe racing programme this week ‘‘ at their request’’ to give them an opportunity to speak freely about their experiences in the programme.
He said he also held a meeting with his own staff, which included an open invitation for them to come forward: ‘‘Some already have’’.
‘‘While our immediate priority is athletes and staff, we will further be exploring if there are ways in which we as an organisation can learn from the challenges faced by the [canoe racing] programme, and our response to those challenges over time.’’
Scott was asked to outline what steps HPSNZ had taken over the past couple of years to address the concerns with the programme. He offered few details.
‘‘Canoe Racing NZ has undertaken measures and our staff have provided considerable support to both athletes and coaches,’’ he said.
‘‘This has included always-on support from numerous HPSNZ experts, including sports psychology and our Athlete Life Advisors, our coaching team working with CRNZ’s coaching staff and the current work being led by Christian Penny to facilitate efforts to strengthen the team and culture, and to learn from the challenges they have experienced to date.’’
One employee said the chief executive’s characterisation of the athletes’ experience as ‘‘not wholly positive’’ was offensive.