A health practitioner who worked with Olivia Podmore has accepted it was “inappropriate” not to take notes from their sessions during her time in the Cycling NZ programme.
Warning: This story discusses mental health and suicide. Helplines are published at the end of this article.
An inquest into the suspected suicide of the young Olympic cyclist heard on Wednesday that the practitioner could not produce any records from his sessions with Podmore.
The practitioner, who has interim name suppression while the case is being heard, worked with Podmore for more than four years, meeting regularly over that period.
He told the Coroner’s Court in Hamilton the nature of his role meant that some of his interactions with athletes were informal, and often “impromptu”.
“In my role, I provide support to many athletes across different sports, in different cities and towns. Meetings are often impromptu, including on the track or in training facilities, but I also meet with athletes at prearranged times,” the practitioner submitted in his brief of evidence to the court.
“The practicalities of my role have made it very difficult to keep written records of all of my interactions with athletes.”
Addressing his lack of record-keeping in court on Wednesday, the practitioner apologised for his approach.
“I totally accept that’s inappropriate. I should be better than that,” he said.
Asked by counsel for the coroner, Joshua Shaw, whether note-taking was extremely important for continuity of care and to ensure details are not missed, the practitioner accepted it was.
The practitioner, whose specific role cannot be identified, said he has since changed his practices.
To assist with the inquest into Podmore’s death, the practitioner was able to reconstruct a timeline of his sessions with the elite cyclist through his invoicing, calendar invites and emails.
‘No grey areas’ — health practitioner
In his evidence earlier this week, the practitioner forcefully denied claims he shared confidential medical information within an “old boys club” of Cycling NZ coaches and support staff at an inquest into the death of the elite cyclist.
“The way I operated with Olivia, and the way I operate with all athletes, is I am very clear from the outset that the information that we shared … was private and confidential,” he told the court.
“There are no grey areas, it is black and white.”
During the opening week of the inquest held by Coroner Louella Dunn, the court heard evidence from two witnesses that information Podmore disclosed about her mental health “went further than it should”.
The conduct of the health practitioner in particular was called into question by Nicholle Bailey, the ex-wife of the coach at the centre of events that led to the 2018 inquiry into Cycling NZ.
Bailey told the inquest she was troubled by the approach of the health practitioner, who she observed had a close relationship with her ex-husband and formed part of “the boys club” of coaching and support staff.
‘Information went further than it should have’ — Nicholle Bailey
She described Podmore’s openness with the health practitioner as a “double-edged sword”.
“In one sense it provided awareness of the difficulties she was facing. However, I’m also aware that this information regularly went further than it should have, resulting in Olivia being ostracised, vilified and bullied by coaches and teammates,” Bailey said.
On Wednesday afternoon, the health practitioner told the court he agreed an old boys’ network existed in Cycling NZ during the period of 2016 to 2018, but he denied he was part of it.
“My first experience of cycling was that there was a very closed system within the coaching team. It was not inclusive, not diverse in any way,” he said.
“For some people it was an old boys’ club, for me it was a closed system, it was controlling, maintaining its own equilibrium for the benefit of certain people. Was I part of that? No, not at all.
“I’m very clear I’m not anyone’s friend, so my protocol with that is I won’t socialise with coaches or athletes. I found that is critical when it comes to being a support for multiple athletes — otherwise you are compromising the relationships immediately.”
The practitioner said he was “shocked” to read evidence that he had been alleged to have fed private information about Podmore back to the coaching staff. He said the claims appear to have come from a small group of people outside of the “professional sphere” in which he operates.
“To be thought of as someone who is sharing information outside of that space was a complete surprise and shock to me. At no time has that information come from any [other] riders.”
The practitioner told the court his approach is to encourage the athletes themselves to share their own information with their coaches.
“The way that we addressed that so that people knew, is that I talked to Olivia about the importance of her sharing information with her coaches, and if a coach was to ask me how Olivia is, I would say ‘please ask Olivia’.”
“It gives her agency over the information … it’s entirely up to her who she shares information with.”
The practitioner’s evidence continues.
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