Former New Zealand Olympic cyclist Olivia Podmore died on Monday, August 9, reportedly hours after posting a message on social media about the pressures of competition.
Podmore, who represented her country at the 2016 Olympics, was just 24. While Podmore qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games, she was not selected for the New Zealand team.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee said in a statement, “We offer our deepest condolences to family, friends, and others in the NZ community who are grieving this loss. We are providing wellbeing support for members of her team and the wider team as we return home from Tokyo.”
Who Was Olivia Podmore?
Olivia Podmore (24 May 1997 – 9 August 2021) was a New Zealand professional racing cyclist. She represented her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
In 2015, Podmore moved to Cambridge to train with the national cycling team.That year, Podmore won silver in the team sprint and bronze in the time trial at the Junior Track World Championships in Astana.
Podmore rode in the women’s team sprint event at the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. She also competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics, although she and her team-mate Natasha Hansen did not advance from the qualification round in the team sprint.[9] She crashed out of the keirin event at the Games.[6] She also came 23rd in the heats of the individual sprint event at the Games.
In 2017, Podmore was the New Zealand keirin champion. At that year’s Oceania Track Championships, Podmore came second in the 500 metres time trial event, and she came second alongside Emma Cumming in the team sprint event.
She competed for New Zealand at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. She was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the individual sprint competition, and came sixth in the keirin event at the Games.
She won the 50 metres time trial event at the 2019 Oceania Track Cycling Championships, and competed in the team sprint event at the 2019 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. She competed in the same event at the 2020 Championships.
Podmore reached the qualification criteria for the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, but was not selected by the New Zealand Olympic Committee.[18]
How did Olivia Podmore die?
Olivia Podmore died in Cambridge on 9 August 2021, aged 24. Her death is a suspected suicide and has been referred to the coroner.
Hours before her death, she had posted on Instagram about the demands of high-performance sport. A New Zealand police spokesman said police attended a sudden death at a property in Waikato on New Zealand’s upper North Island on Monday.
A Reuters report said that while Podmore’s cause of death was not confirmed, a friend raised concerns about her mental health. As per Stuff, Olympian cyclist Eddie Dawkins has called for accountability from Cycling New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand — a Crown Entity Subsidiary established by the Sport NZ Board, with a mandate to “lead the high-performance sport system to new levels of performance” — following the death.
Dawkins reportedly was “devastated” by the news of Podmore’s death. Dawkins, who knew Podmore since she joined cycling at 16, said, “It’s a f**king terrible shame that this has happened. My condolences to her family and friends.
But I hope, if anything comes from this in a positive light, it’s the fact that athletes stand up for themselves. She’s always been the most positive, friendly, open person in the New Zealand cycling team and I guess those that are dealing with mental health issues tend to be the ones that can hide it the best. She was a phenomenal athlete. She was powerful and strong. And everything that you can ask for.”
“I hope Cycling New Zealand get their day. I hope High Performance Sport get their day. Surely there were red flags with Liv. Where was the movement? Where was the discussion … around making sure she’s alright and getting the help she needs,” he said. “It’s not going to be the last time that someone attempts this on themselves. Without positive change and actual change, we’re just putting a Band-Aid on the serious issue.”
He alleged that there was an “overarching problem” in High Performance Sport, involving athletes being pushed to the brink, and not talking about their mental wellbeing. He said her death was “avoidable”. Dawkins said, “We need to have a serious conversation about this. Athletes are created to perform for the nation, and make the nation and the coaches and the federations proud, and the ramifications of that. It’s draining physically and also mentally.”