Nienke Podmore, mother of Olivia Podmore (inset), and partner Chris Middleton in Hagley Park, Christchurch. Nienke Podmore says the battle to bring out the truth about Podmore’s care at Cycling NZ’s base in Cambridge has been "all-consuming". Main photo / Joe Allison
Nienke Podmore, mother of Olivia Podmore (inset), and partner Chris Middleton in Hagley Park, Christchurch. Nienke Podmore says the battle to bring out the truth about Podmore’s care at Cycling NZ’s base in Cambridge has been "all-consuming". Main photo / Joe Allison
The ramifications of Podmore’s death led to a review by KC Mike Heron that handed down damning findings about the treatment of athletes at the sporting organisation and a culture that “prioritises medals over wellbeing”.
Three years on, Nienke and her husband Chris Middleton say they still struggle daily with Podmore’s death and the events that surrounded it.
“People ask that question regularly, you know ‘how I’m doing?’ Because people say time must make it better. Actually, it doesn’t. It just doesn’t change,” Nienke says.
“Livy should be there with them. It will be a hard watch, but we are looking forward to seeing how the [Cycling NZ] girls do. And just feeling for them, too, because they do feel the weight of it big time.
“They’ll have Olivia in their mind, too. Obviously, they need to focus on the events, but she still must hold a big part in their lives.”
This feeling of loss is compounded by the belief the truth has never come out about Podmore’s care at Cycling NZ’s base in Cambridge.
The more than 1000 medical documents are suppressed ahead of the coronial inquiry into her death in November this year.
Chris Middleton said the documents, which they finally obtained in late 2022, made for disturbing reading.
“If she got proper, decent help, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. It definitely wasn’t [reassuring content],” Middleton said.
Nienke said it was helpful to see the documents to “fill in the pieces of the puzzle”.
Olivia Podmore with her mother Nienke. Photo / Supplied
Olivia Podmore's mother Nienke Podmore and partner Chris Middleton say they still struggle daily with Olivia’s death and the events that surrounded it. Photo / Joe Allison
The Middletons still harbour frustration with the official response to Olivia’s death - including the Heron report, for which the terms of reference were only to investigate the culture at Cycling NZ.
High Performance Sport NZ consistently referenced the eventual coroner’s inquiry into Podmore’s death as the authority that would look at potential mismanagement and negligence that preceded the 24-year-old athlete’s death.
“It’s just a clever play on words to take the spotlight off Olivia. It was convenient to use that. But the whole [Heron] report, the whole review is about Olivia basically,” Chris Middleton claimed.
“If the [coronial] inquest allows for all of the information to be shared … everything else will fall into place. So that that’s our number one [priority] and thinking past that is probably wishful thinking on our behalf.
“Just getting the truth out. It’s cost us a lot of money, time and energy. It’s been all-consuming, but we feel like we have to do it because, you know, we don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”
HPSNZ director of high performance, Steve Tew, told the Herald HPSNZ was bound by the coroner’s decisions on whether to release Podmore’s medical records to her family.
“We are conscious of the impact that Olivia’s death and the ongoing coronial process has had and continues to have on her family, friends and those who knew her,” Tew said.
“We also appreciate that this will be a difficult time for the Podmore family with the third anniversary of Olivia’s death approaching and our thoughts are, as always, with Olivia’s family, friends and teammates.”
Tew said HPSNZ did not want to undermine the coroner’s powers or prejudice the inquest. HPSNZ advised the coroner of the Podmore/Middleton family’s request for the records in 2022, and they were provided once the coroner established “clarity” around suppression of the documents, Tew said.
The HPSNZ director also highlighted an increase of $17,500 to $50,000 per annum for its Elite Training Grant, and the efforts HPSNZ has made around athlete welfare since Podmore’s death.
“HPSNZ has placed emphasis on work around athlete health and wellbeing since the launch of our current strategic plan in 2021 and our revised approach to mental health focuses on education and awareness, evaluation and response,” Tew said.
“Ensuring quality and timely access to care remains a priority but we are now emphasising a proactive, preventative approach around education and awareness.”
The process of Nienke Middleton applying to get her daughter’s records also included a three-month wait in 2022 to prove to HPSNZ she was the legal executor of her daughter’s estate.
“It was absolutely ridiculous. It was more distressing, more hurt, and just more pain to go through … there were just so many emails back and forth questioning it, wanting more proof, more everything,” Nienke said.
At the time HPSNZ chief executive Raelene Castle said: “We understand and appreciate that the delay in being unable to provide these records is frustrating and upsetting for the family, who are still grieving the loss of their daughter and, as always, our sympathies are with them.”
The coronial inquiry will begin on November 18 in Hamilton District Court.
Olivia Podmore and Natasha Hansen of New Zealand win gold in the Women's Team Sprint final at the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup at the Cambridge Velodrome in 2019. Photo / Alex Whitehead / SWpix.com
For the next two weeks at least the Middletons will especially be cheering on one of Olivia’s best friends, Shaane Fulton, who is competing in the women’s team sprint event.
“We’re really excited to watch her perform, Livy and her were close so it’s going to be lovely to watch her. But it’s also incredibly sad knowing that if Livy was there with them what could all the girls do together. They would have been so much stronger. It would have been lovely to see Olivia there too,” Nienke said.
“It brings it all back very, very quickly. It’s a tough year and it’s three years and it’s just gone really, really fast. But it brings back a lot of emotion.”
Nienke said she felt they didn’t have a choice but to chase for the medical documents ahead of the coronial inquiry.
“Emotionally it is really draining and tough. It’s a really hard process for anyone to go through. But we really feel we don’t have a choice. We have to fight for the future athletes. It’s like a pathway forward for us in a way even though it’s a tough process. We have to prepare out statements for the coroner so they request a lot of information from us. You have to go back in time across Livy’s 10-year cycling career and go back over all the information and details. That in itself is so incredibly hard.”
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.
