Secret settlements paid to riders Bates carries bat as Otago hammer Northern Brave

High Performance Sport NZ had knowledge of at least two confidential settlements between Cycling NZ and elite cyclists, in what sports integrity experts say should have raised red flags for officials at the government agency.

Information obtained under the Official Information Act has revealed High Performance Sport NZ was named as an ‘‘interested party’’ on two settlement agreements between Cycling NZ and athletes within its programmes since 2018.

has learned Cycling NZ struck at least one other confidential deal with an athlete over this same time period that the government agency was not a party to. It is understood the cyclists received exgratia payments and contributions to legal costs as part of the final settlement agreements, which imposed strict confidentiality or non-disclosure clauses.

Cycling NZ’s legal entanglements with athletes and the existence of secret settlements is now being examined closely following the suspected suicide of Rio Olympian Olivia Podmore in August.

In Podmore’s final social media post, in which she detailed the pressures of elite sport, she accused the national body and High Performance Sport NZ of ‘‘blackmail’’.

As revealed by on August 31, Podmore’s training grant was bumped up from $25,000 to $45,000 following the release of the Heron report.

Podmore’s former junior coach, Hamish Ferguson, said he believed the payment was in recognition that the Rio Olympian had been disadvantaged by missing selection for the world championships earlier that year, meaning she was unable to retain her world ranking.

Ferguson said some viewed this money as a ‘‘pay-off’’ while others considered it an appropriate correction having been omitted from the team for ‘‘political’’ reasons.

Podmore’s former flatmate, Andrew McLean, who acted as a support person for the young cyclist last year in meetings with the national body over her nonselection for the Tokyo Olympics, said Podmore referred to the 2018 payment as ‘‘shut-up money’’. He confirmed she signed a confidentiality agreement as part of the settlement.

has also spoken with an athlete who is eager to speak out about their experiences in Cycling NZ’s high performance programme, but fears there will be financial penalties for doing so.

The athlete said that at the time they felt they had little choice but to sign a settlement put in front of them if they wanted to continue their career.

David Rutherford, a special adviser for the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, says non-disclosure agreements are increasingly seen as an ethically dubious practice, which ‘‘harm transparency and accountability’’.

Rutherford says while there is a context in which confidentiality clauses should be used – primarily to protect the privacy of an athlete – too often they are used as a tool to silence athletes and ‘‘reputation management’’.

‘‘You are in very dangerous territory as an organisation if you simply think an NDA and ex-gratia payment is a safe way to operate. Because it is not,’’ says Rutherford.

‘‘The fact that things are in an NDA would mean that there is secrecy around what happened and other people aren’t encouraged to report. If you are in the governance or management of an organisation, you should want them to report if something is going wrong.’’

Rutherford also points out there is inherent coercion in confidentiality agreements where there are financial terms attached.

‘‘I think what sport has to be particularly careful about is, we all know about the clear imbalance of power between athletes and sports organisations, particularly elite athletes, because so much of their future is affected by the coaches and managers in that sports organisation,’’ says Rutherford.

put several questions to High Performance Sport NZ about whether Cycling NZ’s use of confidential agreements raised any athlete welfare concerns for the organisation, and the ethics of nondisclosure agreements more generally.

It did not address these questions, but in a statement attributed to chief executive Raelene Castle, confirmed it has been made aware of three confidential settlement agreements between an athlete and their national sporting organisation since 2018, across an annual overall average of more than 350 carded athletes.

‘‘We were advised of, and understood, the reasons for these agreements,’’ Castle said.

‘‘We believe that wherever confidentiality provisions [including NDAs] are used between athletes and NSOs, they must be used with caution and both parties must be protected equally.

NDAs should only be used in the way they are designed, to protect sensitive information – it is crucial that they are not used to gain or impose a power imbalance between the parties.’’

Industry insiders have questioned how having a cluster occur within one sport did not raise red flags with High Performance Sport NZ.

put questions to Cycling NZ about its use of non-disclosure agreements, including whether any of its high performance funding went towards legal fees or paying out athletes.

The organisation declined to address the questions, pointing to the independent inquiry under way.

Suzie Bates carried her bat to notch her second successive 50 in another victory for the Otago Sparks in the women’s Super Smash yesterday.

The star White Ferns batter scored a classy 76 off 59 balls and looked untroubled in her 54th 50 in Twenty20 matches against the Northern Brave in Hamilton.

It was the first match of this season’s competition for the Brave and Otago were too good, winning by 61 runs at Seddon Park to go top of the table with two victories.

The Brave were missing some of their Auckland-based players, including White Ferns batter Brooke Halliday, while the city’s borders still have restrictions because of the Covid-19 pandemic and never seemed capable of chasing down their target of 155.

Bates is back in the Super Smash after missing last season because of a shoulder injury and has quickly found form, hitting eight fours to dominate the Brave’s bowlers, reaching her 50 from 39 balls.

She scored 64 last weekend in Otago’s opening win over the Central Hinds in Dunedin.

In reply, the Brave struggled to get going, as Otago’s Emma Black bowled 1-13 in her three overs in the powerplay, while the hosts benefited from three dropped catches.

Still, Black bowled Brave skipper Kate Anderson for 7 and Eden Carson’s sharp caught and bowled dismissed Sam Barriball for 5.

The required run rate was rising when Lucy Boucher was trapped lbw for 22 by Sophie Oldershaw and the Sparks were in complete control of the Brave’s chase.

When Nensi Patel was bowled by Kate Ebrahim for 18, the Brave were reeling on 64-4 with the rate above 12 an over.

Carson and Oldershaw strangled the Brave’s batting and when Molly Loe (2-21) had Makayla Templeton caught behind for a laboured 14 off 21 balls, they needed an improbable 79 to win from 26 balls. Loe then