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.
The former chief executive of Cycling NZ has drawn blank on several meetings, emails and conversations involving staff raising welfare concerns for Olivia Podmore, and claimed he had no “clear evidence” of an athlete/coach relationship that Podmore exposed until several years after it began.
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”.
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.
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 Mike Heron KC that found the athlete-coach relationship “inappropriate”.
Matheson said he had no knowledge of the “unrelenting bullying” from the CNZ coach.
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.
“I would assume I would have had a conversation with high-performance director to look at the issue,” Matheson said when asked what his response to it would have been.
Andrew Matheson was the chief executive of Cycling NZ (CNZ) from May 2014 to December 2018. Photo / Pool
Matheson could also not recall a letter he sent to Podmore a few weeks before he resigned in December 2018.
The former CEO, who still works for High Performance Sport NZ as general manager of strategy, intelligence and innovation said he “was completely burnt out” at the end of 2018 and on “reduced duties”.
However, when questioned by Coroner Louella Dunn on who would have been picking up the slack for his duties Matheson again had no idea, adding his mental and physical health was not good at the time and he “can’t recall”.
Matheson also claimed the first time he had proof of the coach/athlete relationship that instigated the 2018 Heron review, was in late April early May 2018 after a meeting with Podmore and CNZ strength and conditioning coach Shaun Paterson at Matheson’s home.
However, counsel to assist the coroner, Joshua Shaw, pointed out an email exchange Matheson had in early May 2017 with the chair of the CNZ board, that was documented in the 2018 Heron report.
The reports states an informant confirmed the relationship between the coach and athlete to the chair who then emailed Matheson: “I have spoken first hand with the informant and confirmed that the circumstances described are factual … Something serious to deal with, the ripple effect is significant”.
Matheson responded: “Thanks for following up in relation to the conduct discussion. I have also been doing quite a bit of digging today. It is looking like there has been quite a fair degree of covering up.”
However despite this response in May 2017, Matheson said today the first time he had “clear evidence” of the CNZ coach/athlete relationship was his May 2018 meeting with Podmore and Paterson.
“I can’t comment on something I can’t recall,” Matheson said about the email exchange - which he did not remember. The former CEO did, however, acknowledge he was aware of rumours of the relationship.
Former CNZ campaign manager, Jess Massey gives evidence at the Olivia Podmore inquest at the Hamilton High Court. Photo / Pool
Olympic legend Eric Murray speaks during the inquest into the death of Olivia Podmore, who he previously mentored. Photo / Pool
There was also dispute over the nature of that 2018 meeting Paterson and Podmore had with Matheson in which Podmore shared details of the Rio Olympic trip, and the impact and bullying she had experienced as a result of the Bordeaux incident.
“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.”
However, today Matheson disputed that Podmore was “distraught” in the meeting, instead describing her as: “clear, articulate, brave”.
“There were moments when she was a bit tearful, but I was surprised how brave she was. I was impressed with her composure and how she articulated and handled herself,” Matheson said.
Nienke Middleton, Olivia Podmore's mother, at the inquest into the death of her daughter at Hamilton District Court. Photo / Pool
NZ Olympic legend Eric Murray reveals ‘tipping point’
The two-time Olympic gold medallist rower was a friend and mentor to Podmore in the years before the 24-year-old took her life.
Murray was a witness yesterday in the coronial inquest into Podmore’s death in Hamilton District Court and spoke about the lack of communication the cyclist received about her non-selection for the Tokyo Games.
“I think the tipping point for Olivia was having to watch the Tokyo Olympic Games after everything she had gone through in connection with her non-selection,” Murray said.
“She watched her ex-boyfriend Tom Murray win a gold medal in the rowing eight. Olivia was upset during this time, but I did not observe any particularly concerning behaviours. She also watched a friend and teammate, who was arguably ranked lower than Olivia, go on to win a medal in an event she had raced in.
“I guess it’s more of a shell shock watching the Olympics … like, what am I going to do? Where am I going to go?”
‘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 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 Oliva 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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