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New Zealand mountain biker Sammie Maxwell won gold in the women’s under-23 cross-country event at the Cycling World Championships in Scotland.
photo: SWpix.com
With less than two weeks until the opening ceremony, mountain bike star Sammie Maxwell is waiting for the New Zealand Olympic Committee to decide whether she will appear on the start line at the Paris Olympics.
Maxwell is the under-23 women’s cyclo-cross world champion but Cycling New Zealand did not nominate her for the Olympics, arguing that the risk to her health would be too great if she competed in Paris.
But the decision was overturned on appeal to the Sports Court, which said it was a “grave breach of natural justice”.
Maxwell has spoken publicly in the past about her struggles with eating disorders and in March she pulled out of a World Cup race because “I had to sort some things out in my head”.
Cycling New Zealand’s nomination criteria include a clause that athletes must prove they “do not have any mental or physical impairment that would prevent them from competing at the highest standard at the 2024 Olympic Games”.
The tribunal overturned the New Zealand Cycling Selectors’ decision last week and imposed special measures following an appeal by Maxwell Nominating young mountain bike stars directly for Olympic selection.
At present, the final decision on whether Maxwell can appear at the starting line of the Paris Olympics lies in the hands of the New Zealand Olympic Committee. It is reported that this decision has been reported to the New Zealand Olympic Committee Board of Directors, and Maxwell is still waiting for his fate to come.
Tribunal’s criticism of nomination process
RNZ has obtained a full written decision in which the tribunal ruled that Maxwell’s appeal was successful on two grounds: that Cycling New Zealand did not properly implement or follow the nomination criteria, and that there was no material on which a decision could reasonably be made.
The tribunal found Cycling New Zealand relied on outdated and inaccurate information in its assessment of her current health and flagrantly ignored an updated medical report provided by Maxwell’s doctor in France, where she rides for professional team Decathlon Ford.
“Ms. Maxwell was entitled to a nomination decision based on accurate, up-to-date medical evidence, but she received none,” the decision reads.
Maxwell was also not given the opportunity to see or respond to the medical report at the heart of Cycling New Zealand’s decision – a move the tribunal deemed a “serious breach of natural justice”.
The tribunal criticised the influence of a “misrepresentative” memo submitted to the committee by high performance director Ryan Hollows on the nomination process. The tribunal found that Hollows submitted only selected passages from the doctor’s report and supporting evidence provided by Maxwell, to which he added his own emphasis.
The tribunal found that Hollos’ involvement was “inappropriate” and that his memorandum had “considerable influence on the panel’s decision.”
The tribunal found that while Cycling New Zealand “deserved praise for its concern for Maxwell’s well-being”, the national body had an obligation to consider the athlete’s health within the narrow context of its nomination criteria.
“The actual physical impairment … has not been determined, and there has been no effect, if any, on her performance. Certainly, in considering these matters, Ms. Maxwell’s grades and the high level of her performance are something the court cannot ignore.”
Maxwell won the 2021 National Cross Country Championships in Christchurch.
photo: Peter Meacham/www.photosport.nz
A spokesman for Cycling New Zealand said they could not comment on the tribunal’s decision and referred the case back to the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
The “extremely complex” case is being closely watched by officials in high-performance sport.
A senior High Performance Sport New Zealand official told Radio New Zealand that the intense scrutiny New Zealand cycling has faced over the past three years following the tragic death of Rio Olympian Olivia Podmore has made the sport more mindful of ensuring it meets its duty of care to its athletes.
The official added that the state agency sincerely believed that the decision not to nominate Maxwell was in her best interest.
But others point out that there are inherent mental health risks in denying a qualified athlete the Olympics.
There are also concerns that Maxwell’s case could deter other athletes from disclosing mental health issues for fear it could be used against them during selection.
The tribunal raised this point in its written decision, noting it was concerned that Cycling New Zealand was “taking a discriminatory approach towards athletes with eating disorders” because the national body’s ruling essentially suggested that “if an athlete suffers from an eating disorder then they must have a mental and/or physical disorder”.
“The court finds this to be a troubling precedent and is concerned that this attitude could do more harm than good.”
The “mental disorder” clause is included in the Olympic nomination criteria but has caused controversy in the past.
After the Tokyo Olympics, athlete representatives harshly criticized the clause, saying it “clearly hindered” athletes from talking about their mental health issues.
Some sports have chosen to remove references to intellectual disabilities from their nomination criteria for this year’s Olympics.
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