New Zealand cyclist Olivia Podmore, who competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, has died at the age of 24, police confirmed.
Her cause of death has not been confirmed. A New Zealand police spokesman said police attended a sudden death at a property in Waikato on New Zealand’s upper North Island at about 4 p.m. (5 a.m BST) on Monday.
Former Olympic rowing champion Eric Murray, a friend of Podmore, said he was with her on Monday and described her death as a “shock and a tragedy.”
“I wish she had said something,” Murray told reporters in Cambridge, a high performance hub in New Zealand for cycling and other sports.
“We have lost a sister, a friend and a fighter who lost that will of fight inside of her. If you had seen her in the last 72 hours, you wouldn’t have thought this could happen. That’s why there’s so much talk about mental health at the moment.”
Landry said Cycling New Zealand will review any possible “missteps.”
“Right now for us it’s about focusing on the wellbeing of the people who are here and having to deal with this loss,” Landry said during a news conference.
“There will be a time for us actually to review and look at if and where we would have had missteps or where we didn’t act properly.”
New Zealand media reported Podmore had recently described the pressures of elite sport in a post on her social media.
On Tuesday the New Zealand cycling federation said it would review it’s mental health support for athletes with high performance sport New Zealand boss Raelene Castle adding support for athletes in programmes was not perfect.
“Her legacy has to be that we make improvements,” Castle told reporters.
The issue of athletes struggling with their mental health has been in the spotlight since Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open.
American Simone Biles pulled out of most of her Olympic gymnastics events in Tokyo, citing a need to take care of her mental health.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee said news of Podmore’s death had reached the national cycling team which was expected home from Tokyo on Tuesday.
“We are providing wellbeing support for members of her team and the wider team as we return home from Tokyo,” NZOC said in a statement.
Podmore’s brother Mitchell wrote in a Facebook post: “Rest in peace to my gorgeous sister and loved daughter of Phil Podmore. You will be in our hearts forever.”