Why words are meaningless
The value systems that drove harmful actions within Cycling NZ cannot be undone with the release of a report, writes national correspondent Dana
They were good words. Solemn words. Reassuring words. Carefully crafted and delivered with the appropriate gravitas. The findings of the inquiry into Cycling NZ and the wider high performance system were at once shocking and clarifying. Sports leaders quickly moved to assure us this moment would not be wasted. ‘‘We have already begun solid dialogue with our athletes whose views are fundamental in establishing an open and honest high performance environment where our riders and staff can relate with each other directly and with respect to ensure such circumstances do not arise in the future,’’ Cycling NZ’s chairperson said.
High Performance Sport NZ’s chief executive called it a line in the sand moment for the organisation.
Grant Robertson, Minister of Sport and Recreation, assured us he would personally be working with High Performance Sport NZ to ‘‘ensure the lessons of the report are acted upon’’.
But these words were just that. Words. Words delivered three and half years ago to be precise.
Yesterday, with the release of the findings of a second major inquiry into Cycling NZ in three years, we heard more words. More claims that important changes are in train to protect the welfare of the country’s elite athletes. But at this point it is all utterly meaningless. We know now that words do not lead to change.
The 104-page report, commissioned in the wake of the tragic death of Rio Olympian Olivia Podmore, can be added to the stack of other reports into troubled sporting environments and the culture of elite sport. All paint a similar picture of a sporting system that values medals before people, a lack of transparency, accountability and poor leadership.
Mike Heron’s 2018 investigation into allegations of bullying, intimidation, favouritism and an inappropriate coachathlete relationship was considered the exemplar of the popular sport review genre. The treatment of Podmore was central to the original investigation, with Heron finding the young athlete was ‘‘pressured to give a false account’’ to protect a coach and another athlete who were allegedly involved in an intimate relationship. The review also uncovered a lack of accountability and effective leadership in the programme, dysfunctional risk escalation procedures, and a culture where there was a fear of reprisal for speaking up.
Among the key issues the latest inquiry, led by Heron and senior academic Sarah Leberman, examines is whether the raft of recommendations made on the back of the 2018 investigation were effectively implemented. The Heron report mark 2 found that in general all the recommendations in his first report had been enacted, but there was a ‘‘disconnect’’ between sports leaders and the people working on the ground.
In other words, boxes were ticked, new processes and procedures put in place, shiny new policy brochures released . . . and then everyone carried on behaving in the same manner. The warped value systems that drove those harmful actions against Podmore and other athletes cannot be undone by the implementation of a few policies copied and pasted from ‘‘best practice’’ guidelines.
Sports leaders have been warned of this misalignment between policies and actions in high performance environments for years. In Stephen Cottrell’s 2018 report into elite athlete rights and welfare, commissioned by Sport NZ at a cost to the taxpayer of $76,113, the prominent sports lawyer warned that one of the ‘‘biggest risks sporting organisations face’’ is the discrepancy between the culture of the organisation as formally articulated, and the culture that exists in reality. ‘‘Words mean nothing unless supported by actions and behaviour,’’ Cottrell wrote.
Talk to any sports administrator in the country and they will tell you they take athlete welfare extremely seriously. Everyone is ‘‘against bullying and abuse’’ so long as it is a nebulous, theoretical concept. When the victim is hypothetical. But what about when there is a victim in front of them who it would cost to care for? Then their actions suggest otherwise.
Time after time, when concerns or allegations are raised about a high performance environment, the response of sports organisations is to try to discredit those making the allegations rather than engage with the actual issues. They choose to minimise or even dismiss the lived experience of athletes. They can do so with confidence knowing High Performance Sport NZ, their government ‘‘partner’’, will wrap itself around the sport, not the athlete.
‘‘Wellbeing initiatives’’ will not change this culture in elite sport.
That cannot occur without dismantling the value systems that underpin the decisions made.
Without radical intervention sports leaders will be back here again, mourning the death of another young athlete and asking themselves where it all went wrong while ignoring the answers staring them in the face. Mark my words.