'We want to put a stop to this behaviour,' says cyclist Williams

Liz Williams

Commonwealth Games cyclist Liz Williams wants better support for female athletes in national teams.

Williams, embroiled in the aftermath of a drunken incident involving fellow New Zealand cyclists Marc Ryan and Tim Gudsell, spoke out for the first time yesterday.

Cycling NZ found Gudsell and Ryan had breached disciplinary policy and both were directed to seek counselling within the next three months.

Williams said yesterday: "In the future, if what happened to me happened to one of the girls I coach I would be really angry."

"We want to put a stop to this behaviour so any girl coming through now can go away with that team and have no problems at all," she told Radio Live.

Cycling NZ has always refused to reveal details of what happened in the March incident at the Games village, but Australian newspapers reported at the time that two men tried to strip a teammate and urinate on her during post-competition celebrations.

Williams stopped short of attacking Gudsell and Ryan.

She described the pair as "both really great guys ... and it's unfortunate they made a mistake, but I'm sure they want to put that mistake behind them and get on with it as well".

She paused when asked if she was friends with them. "That's quite a hard question to ask ... They have been in the past." Williams' mother, Patricia, went on the offensive on Monday, attacking the "destructive and unsafe" drinking culture that surrounded New Zealand cycling and calling for an inquiry.

"I've long said that there should be a chaperone going with the girls because they have been unsafe for a very long time."

Bike New Zealand, the umbrella organisation for all cycling disciplines, is to question cycling managers and riders as part of a "thorough review" of its Commonwealth Games campaign.

Chief executive Rodger Thompson said the review would investigate the culture within the team in an attempt to find out "where the culture is, and what support they can receive".

Cycling NZ women's endurance coach Susy Pryde yesterday said heavy drinking was endemic to all sporting codes. "It's in a way an icon of sport."

Pryde, a former Commonwealth Games medallist, said an inquiry into the latest Games campaign would probably create more heat than light.

The drunken incident was the result of "athletes, having finished their events, being a little immature and making some very bad judgment calls".

- Additional reporting by NZPA