Olivia Podmore coronial inquiry: Olympian bullied at Cycling NZ ...

Podmore died the day after the Tokyo Olympics ended, August 9, 2021, after the track cyclist failed to qualify for that event following a tortuous Covid-19-interrupted selection process complicated by several controversies.

In 2016, Podmore unwittingly exposed an intimate relationship between a CNZ teammate and a coach after she reported the athlete had not returned home to their hotel after a night out during a training camp in Bordeaux, six weeks out from the Rio Olympics.

The fallout from this athlete-coach relationship led to a 2018 independent review by Mike Heron KC that found the entire dynamic “inappropriate”. Heron was also responsible for a second damning 2022 report into the culture at CNZ that “prioritises medals over wellbeing” after Podmore’s death.

The first witness of the inquiry today was Olivia’s friend and former High Performance Sport NZ (HPSNZ) campaign manager, Jessica Massey, who worked with CNZ from 2011 to 2021.

Massey was the first person Podmore texted that night in Bordeaux about the athlete and coach: “to say they still weren’t back, she couldn’t sleep and she was really worried”.

After their eventual return in a taxi near midnight, the coach was allegedly seen kissing the athlete after she threw up in the front garden of the hotel.

After the incident, Massey raised the matter of the coach’s behaviour with CNZ management after she had “been tracking broader issues with [the coach’s] behaviour since the 2014 Commonwealth Games, so this was the pinnacle”.

“Upon the cycling team’s return to New Zealand, the bullying against Olivia escalated,” Massey said.

“The surrounding sprint squad, both athletes and coaches, enforced the hierarchy that [the coach] had set. There were occasions where I would be out for coffee with Olivia, and she would be receiving text messages from her team telling her to “shut her mouth”. It was awful to see. I felt that I had done all that I could in attempting to prompt senior leadership to take action against this behaviour.”

Massey went into further concerning detail today in court about the types of texts she would receive from teammates.

Texts saying: “I can’t trust you on the start line because you’re such a mental case” and “Keep your trap shut… one team one dream” were allegedly sent to Podmore from CNZ teammates.

Massey also said she received texts from Olivia to the effect, “I can tell these medical professionals I’m suicidal and they still wouldn’t do anything.”

She also said Podmore would regularly use “hyperbolic language”, ending messages with “RIP” and also using the expression “slit my wrists”.

Massey said Podmore often felt forced out of her own room by the teammate and the coach after that relationship was exposed.

“Olivia found this to be an incredibly stressful time. There were several nights where she would stay in my room because she had been asked to clear out of the room by [the CNZ athlete] or she felt intimidated by either [the coach] or [the athlete] at the time,” Massey said.

Another witness today was CNZ strength and conditioning coach Shaun Neil Paterson, who spoke about a mid-2018 meeting Podmore had with CNZ chief executive Andrew Matheson in which the then 19-year-old athlete shared details of the Rio Olympic trip.

“Olivia was distraught. She was in tears for a lot of the meeting,” Paterson said.

“By that point, she was at her wits' end. She was very much in angst about [the coach athlete] relationship and its flow-on effects. She had not only been personally impacted but it has impacted her career.”

Paterson said that during 2018-2002, “I believe senior management at CNZ dropped the ball – not the psychologists or performance support staff.

“Olivia was massively let down by CNZ predominantly. There continues to be a long way to go in improving the culture in CNZ – including the systemic issues, relational issues and issues within senior management.”

Massey was also damning on the lack of confidentiality within CNZ.

“I know Olivia tried to talk to people confidentially but her disclosures would always come back through the CNZ/HPSNZ network. She could not safely express the impact that CNZ’s toxic culture was having on her for fear of CNZ staff, being the perpetrators of this culture, finding out and not being held to account.”

At the outset of the coronial inquest, set to go for three weeks, Coroner Louella Dunn said “there is no dispute” Olivia died by suicide.

“The focus of this inquest will be the mental health challenges Olivia faced and the care she received.”

Dunn said the issues the inquest was attempting to answer were:

Olivia Podmore’s father said he was not once informed of the extensive mental health struggles she was going through in the seven years she lived at the Cambridge High Performance Sport NZ base before she took her life.

It was the first public statement from Phil Podmore since the death of the 24-year-old Rio Olympian on August 9, 2021, and was issued as part of the opening statements to the inquiry this morning.

The joint statement from Phil and Olivia’s brother Mitchell was read out by Christchurch barrister Hamish Evans and asked the question how such a “senseless tragedy” could happen to “a young star of New Zealand cycling”.

“In the whole time Olivia was under Cycling NZ care, neither Phil or Mitchell were made aware of the challenges she was going through,” Phil and Mitchell Podmore said.

“CNZ placed her in a position where she was bullied … it must have been a truly awful position to be put in.”

In formal terms, coroners conduct inquests to determine the cause and circumstances of death and identify ways to prevent similar deaths in the future.

About 30 witnesses will appear at the inquest, including Olivia’s mother Nienke Middleton and her husband Chris, who will be representing themselves without legal counsel.

“I’ve got to be the lawyer, by default,” Chris Middleton said. “It was probably going to be another $150,000, so we made the fairly simple choice that we’ll do it ourselves.”

The Middletons have already undertaken an extended legal battle to obtain Podmore’s medical records from HPSNZ, costing them tens of thousands of dollars.

More than 1000 medical documents were suppressed ahead of the coronial inquiry, the Middletons say.

Chris said the documents, which they finally obtained in late 2022, made for disturbing reading.

“There’s been an awful lot of noise coming out of [HPSNZ]. They’ve just fought absolutely everything pre-inquest, everything suppressed ... God, it’s just been relentless,” he said.

“There’ll be a lot of nervous people there I would think.”

Nienke added: “We’ve basically had to kick and scream for everything”.

There are a number of non-publication orders for the names of health professionals who worked within the HPSNZ system, as well as a CNZ staff member.

HPSNZ, CNZ and several other witnesses sought non-publication orders through King’s Counsel. In all, there will be four KCs at the inquest - something that riles Chris, given the legal expenses the family have personally endured over several years.

Other notable witnesses at the inquest include friend and two-time Olympic gold medallist Eric Murray, and Podmore’s housemate at the time and close friend Andrew McLean. This was the residence on the outskirts of Cambridge where Olivia died.

Both Murray and McLean were with Podmore the weekend before she died, skiing in Queenstown.

Among the coaches speaking at the coronial inquiry will be former CNZ lead track sprint coach Rene Wolff and CNZ high performance director Martin Barras, as well as the chief executive at the time, Jacques Landry.

All three men resigned from their roles in the six months following Podmore’s death.

Sport NZ chief executive Raelene Castle will also appear as a witness.

“We would like to extend our sympathies to the family and friends of Olivia Podmore. HPSNZ appreciates that the coronial inquest will be a very difficult time for them,” Castle said in a statement.

“It may also be a difficult time for those who worked closely with Olivia within the high performance system and HPSNZ will be providing support if and when needed.

“Athlete wellbeing is one of the three key focuses of the HPSNZ strategy, and a lot of new initiatives, updated policies and compulsory training have been introduced across the high performance system over the last four years.

“We are all continuously learning, and the coronial inquiry will be an important next step in the process, as we work to ensure that high performance sport is a place where all athletes can thrive and succeed.”

In her final social media post, hours before she died, Podmore referenced a “cover-up” at CNZ.

In the week after her death, the Herald revealed that Podmore was an athlete cited in the 2018 Heron review who had been pressured to lie by CNZ.

At the end of 2018, Podmore was paid a $20,000-plus sporting grant for welfare reasons that several involved with CNZ and close to her described as questionable.

The Herald has also reported on the personal challenges Podmore faced in the last year of her life, after she was told in August 2020 she would not be selected for the Tokyo Olympics. Podmore was using drugs recreationally during this time, and receiving psychological help.

Many fellow CNZ athletes felt Podmore was unfairly treated during selection for those Olympics. A legal dispute around selection lodged by another CNZ athlete close to Podmore complicated matters further.

Many CNZ athletes the Herald spoke to in 2021 were highly critical of the methods and culture created by Barras, who oversaw the decision to not select Podmore for the Tokyo Games.

Tom Dillane is an Auckland-based journalist covering local government and crime as well as sports investigations. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is deputy head of news.

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