New Zealand mountain bike rider Sammie Maxwell won gold in the under-23 women's cross country at the cycling world championships in Scotland. Photo: SWpix.com
Less than two weeks out from opening ceremony, mountain bike star Sammie Maxwell is waiting on the board of the New Zealand Olympic Committee to decide if she'll be at the start line for the Paris Games.
Maxwell, an under-23 women's cross country world champion, was not nominated by Cycling NZ for the Olympics. It decided the risk to Maxwell's health was too great if she competed at Paris.
But that decision was overturned on appeal to the Sports Tribunal, which said it represented a "serious breach of natural justice".
Maxwell has been open about her battles with disordered eating in the past, withdrawing from a World Cup event in March this year as "I have to get a few things right in my brain".
Cycling NZ's nomination criteria includes a clause that athletes must demonstrate they do not suffer from "any mental or physical impairment that would prevent them from competing at the 2024 Games to the highest possible standard".
After Maxwell's appeal, the tribunal which last week overruled the Cycling NZ selectors and took the extraordinary step of directly nominating the young mountain bike star for Olympic selection.
The final call on whether Maxwell will be on the startline in Paris now rests with the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC). It is understood the decision has been elevated to NZOC board level and Maxwell is still waiting to learn her fate.
Tribunal's criticisms of nomination process
In its full written decision, obtained by RNZ, the tribunal ruled Maxwell's appeal was successful on two grounds, finding that Cycling NZ did not properly implement or follow the nomination criteria; and there was no material on which the decision could reasonably be made.
The tribunal found Cycling NZ relied on out-of-date and inaccurate information when it came to assessing the current state of her health, and blatantly disregarded more recent medical report provided by Maxwell's doctors in France, where she competes for pro-team Decathlon Ford.
"Ms Maxwell was entitled to have a nomination decision based on medical evidence that was both accurate and up to date but she received neither," the decision read.
Maxwell also wasn't provided the opportunity to see or respond to a medical report that was central in Cycling NZ's decision - a move the tribunal found was a "serious breach of natural justice".
The tribunal was critical of the influence high performance director Ryan Hollows had on the nomination process by presenting a "skewed" memorandum to the panel. The tribunal found Hollows presented only selective paragraphs from a doctor's report and supporting evidence provided by Maxwell, and added his own emphasis to them.
Hollows' involvement was described by the tribunal as "inappropriate" and that his memo carried "considerable influence over the panel's decision".
The tribunal concluded while Cycling NZ "is to be commended for its concern" about Maxwell's health, the national body was obliged to consider the athlete's health in the narrow context of the nomination criteria.
"The actual physical impairment … had not been defined and nor had the impact, if any, on her performance. Of course, in considering these matters there were Ms Maxwell's results and the high level at which she had been performing which, to the Tribunal, were impossible to ignore".
Maxwell racing to victory at the 2021 national cross country championships in Christchurch. Photo: Peter Meecham/www.photosport.nz
A spokesperson for Cycling NZ said they were unable to comment on the tribunal's decision and referred RNZ back to the NZOC.
The "incredibly complex" case has been watched closely by officials across the wider high performance sport sector.
A senior official at High Performance Sport NZ told RNZ the scrutiny Cycling NZ has faced over the last three years in the wake of the tragic death of Rio Olympian Olivia Podmore has made the sport even more mindful of ensuring it is exercising its duty of care to athletes.
The official added the national body genuinely felt it had Maxwell's best interests at heart in making the decision not to nominate her.
But others have pointed out the inherent mental health risks in denying a qualified athlete selection for the Olympic Games.
There are also concerns that Maxwell's case may prevent other athletes from disclosing mental health issues for fear it will be held against them at selection time.
The tribunal raised this point in its written decision, noting its concern that Cycling NZ is taking a "discriminatory attitude towards athletes who have eating disorders", as the national body's decision is essentially signalling "that if an athlete has an eating disorder, they must have a mental and/or physical impairment".
"The tribunal finds that to be an uncomfortable precedent to set and is concerned that such an attitude could do more harm than good."
The "mental impairment" clause is standard in Olympic nomination criterias, but has been the source of controversy in the past.
Athlete representatives slammed the clause after the Tokyo Olympics calling it a "clear disincentive" for athletes to speak up about their mental health.
Some sports elected to remove the reference to mental impairment from its nomination criterias for this year's Games.
