Ex-Cycling NZ CEO Andrew Matheson was questioned in the coronial inquest into Olivia Podmore and disputed the statements of several other witnesses close to the Rio Olympian.
A Cycling NZ lawyer has denied a “threat” was made towards Olivia Podmore in a meeting the cyclist had about a possible appeal to her non-selection for the Tokyo Olympics.
The lawyer, who has name suppression, was questioned in the Hamilton District Court today during the coronial inquest into the death of the Rio Olympian.
Podmore died the day after the Tokyo Olympics ended, August 9, 2021, after the track cyclist failed to qualify for that event following a Covid-19-interrupted selection process complicated by several controversies.
Questions from the counsel assisting the coroner, Joshua Shaw, focused on a meeting Podmore had in mid-June 2020 with Cycling NZ high performance director, Martin Barras, sprint coach, Rene Wolff, and the CNZ lawyer.
Podmore’s support person in the meeting was her flatmate and friend Andrew McLean - who also appeared as a witness in the inquest yesterday.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss Podmore’s non-selection for the Tokyo Olympics which had been delayed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Podmore was objecting to a sprint spot CNZ had to the Games had been given to an endurance rider.
“The meeting concluded by CNZ recommending that Olivia take her matter to the sports tribunal if she wished, however, [the CNZ lawyer] caveated this by noting the rarity of athlete success and that if Olivia did take her matter to the sports tribunal, her relationship with CNZ could be damaged as a result,” McLean claimed.
“I asked whether that was a threat, and they were quick to assure us that it was not a threat.”
McLean said Podmore was “never reassured that she was a good athlete that they wanted on their team” at any point of the meeting.
“If performance really was their concern, they did not provide Olivia with a performance plan to work towards or any suggestion that this may follow. She left this meeting feeling like she wasn’t at all valued or heard,” McLean said.
Podmore ultimately decided to not lodge an official sports tribunal appeal to her Tokyo Olympics non-selection.
In the inquest today, the CNZ lawyer denied McLean’s claim it was a threat, and that she in any way was trying to dissuade Podmore from making an official appeal.
“Yeah I certainly wasn’t trying to dissuade her at all,” the CNZ lawyer said.
“In the moment I was trying to explain all the different parts of what an appeal involved … so yes I did mention that to them but it wasn’t that ‘this is going to be damaging to you’.”
“I guess I’ve been through lots of these and these processes are really challenging for everyone.. The high-performance environment is really hard for athletes when they’re not selected. She was just thinking, ‘why can’t we have a race off’ but the appeal is so much more than that. I was encouraging her to get advice.”
The CNZ lawyer said she “didn’t want [Podmore] to be under the illusion” that the tribunal would be determining if she was a better rider than another, but rather it would be determining if correct procedure had been taken in the selection process.
Coroner Louella Dunn asked if the CNZ lawyer thought it appropriate at all to say to a young athlete that appeals are rarely successful and detail the complicating factors of them, and whether they could have been interpreted as trying to dissuade Podmore from doing so.
“I guess tone is really important and I can understand why in black and white words how you could get that impression,” the CNZ lawyer said, but insisted she wasn’t implying “you better watch what you’re doing”.
The CNZ lawyer said she also had to deal with an “animated” McLean.
“I just remember Andrew was quite worked up … I was trying to talk to Olivia in a calm manner … Andrew didn’t seem to understand what an appeal involved,” the Cycling NZ lawyer said.
However, the CNZ lawyer said she had huge sympathy for all parties in these selection dispute processes, becoming emotional herself on the witness stand.
“The athletes who I’m involved with, the athletes are this close to going. And it’s really hard to watch that,” the CNZ lawyer said holding back tears.
“These people are human beings as well and they [coaches] feel acutely the decisions they make on the people they work with every day. It’s stressful on individuals but the entire organisation,”
“Selection is so black and white, unfortunately … I’d like to be able to wave a magic wand on how to make this better.”
The CNZ lawyer also said she did not know Podmore had any mental health challenges at the time of the meeting.
Andrew Matheson was the chief executive of Cycling NZ (CNZ) from May 2014 to December 2018. Photo / Pool
Andrew Matheson was the chief executive of Cycling NZ (CNZ) from May 2014 to December 2018 and resigned from the role in a state of “complete burnout” shortly after a critical report into the culture of the national sporting organisation by Mike Heron KC.
Matheson appeared as a witness this morning in the coronial inquest into Podmore in the Hamilton District Court and disputed the statements of several other witnesses close to the Rio Olympian.
Matheson said he had no knowledge of “unrelenting bullying” towards Podmore by a disgraced CNZ coach including being told she was “f***ing useless and didn’t deserve to be in the team” and commenting on the size of her bottom.
Asked what he would have done if he had known about such bullying, Matheson said: “It would depend on the context … I guess we’d have to deal with that as a breach of code of conduct … it would make sense to”.
Former CNZ campaign manager Jess Massey gives evidence at the Olivia Podmore inquest at the Hamilton High Court. Photo / Pool
In 2016, Podmore unwittingly exposed an intimate relationship between a CNZ teammate and a coach, who was responsible for the alleged bullying described, 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 incident and media scrutiny led to a 2018 independent review by Heron that found the athlete-coach relationship “inappropriate”.
Among many things Matheson didn’t remember in his several hours in the witness stand this morning, was a meeting a close friend of Podmore’s and a CNZ staffer, Jessica Massey, had with him in early 2018.
In her statement to the coronial inquest, Massey said before she went on maternity leave in May 2018 she had a meeting in Matheson’s office.
“I met ... to discuss my sincere concerns about Olivia’s treatment by CNZ and my calls for action ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games,” Massey said.
“I had drafted a number of reports where my observations and recommendations featured, none of which were implemented by CNZ. Andrew’s only suggestion was that I make a formal statement, however, I could not understand how my reports were not deemed ‘formal’, nor did I have any guarantee about how this statement were to be treated if I did write one.”
Today, Matheson said he had no recollection of this meeting with Massey at all.
Nienke Middleton, Olivia Podmore's mother, at the inquest into the death of her daughter at Hamilton District Court. Photo / Pool
‘There is no dispute’
At the outset of the coronial inquest, set to run for three weeks, Coroner Louella Dunn said “there is no dispute” Podmore 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:
What were the circumstances of Podmore’s death?
What did High Performance Sport NZ and CNZ know of Podmore’s challenges before her death and did they have sufficient knowledge to help her?
What steps did they take and were they appropriate to address the health challenges?
If another athlete had the same mental health issues today as Podmore experienced, would the response from HPSNZ and CNZ be different?
Olivia Podmore's brother Mitchell Podmore (front) and their father Phil at the inquest. Photo / Pool
Cyclist Olivia Podmore (inset), her mother Nienke Middleton (left) and Nienke's husband Chris Middleton (right) in Hagley Park. Photo / Joe Allison
Three-year wait for answers
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 Podmore’s mother Nienke Middleton and her husband Chris Middleton, who will represent 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 said: “We’ve basically had to kick and scream for everything”.
Olivia Podmore (left) with her mother Nienke Middleton. Photo / Supplied
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 has personally endured over several years.
Other notable witnesses at the inquest include friend and two-time Olympic gold medallist Murray, and close friend Andrew McLean, who was Podmore’s housemate at the time of her death, sharing a residence on the outskirts of Cambridge where she died.
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.”
Raelene Castle (left), head of High Performance Sport NZ, and Jacques Landry, former chief executive of Cycling New Zealand. Photo / Mike Scott
In her final social media post, hours before she died, Podmore referenced a “cover-up” at CNZ.
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.
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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