Former Olympic champion Hamish Carter has resigned from his position with High Performance Sport NZ (HPSNZ) after revealing he leaked confidential information to former national track cycling coach Anthony Peden.
Hamish Carter. Photo: PhotoSport
Carter passed on feedback given by New Zealand team members on Peden, which was supposed to be anonymous.
A subsequent independent review of Cycling New Zealand by former solicitor general Michael Heron was released earlier this month and identified a culture of bullying, poor behaviour, lack of accountability and an inappropriate relationship all existed within a dysfunctional high performance programme.
Peden suddenly resigned form his role in May.
Carter - who won Olympic gold as a triathlete at the 2004 Athens Games - was employed as a Campaign Consultant Manager by HPSNZ.
2004 Olympic triathlon champion Hamish Carter. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
In a statement Carter said he wanted to apologise to those athletes and staff who may have been affected by this mistake.
"I want to assure all athletes and other stakeholders with whom I have worked over the years that my overarching priority has always been to support them and their success.
"As I told Mr Heron in the Cycling NZ review, I did provide confidential interviews to Mr Peden. I accept full responsibility for that genuine mistake," said Carter.
"I will not be making any further comments as I know there are many athletes and campaigns working hard towards the Tokyo Games, and the focus should go back to enabling them to achieve," he said.
HPSNZ chief executive Michael Scott said he would like to recognise Carter's contribution to the organisation since joining in 2013. He also acknowledged the honesty and integrity he had shown in responding to the report by Michael Heron QC.
"There has been no agreement or settlement between us relating to Hamish's decision to leave and HPSNZ and we want to be clear that Hamish has made this decision on his own account," he said.
Anthony Peden applauds the silver medal efforts of the New Zealand men's sprint team at the Rio Olympics. Photo: Photosport
-RNZ
