WELLINGTON: New Zealand cycling was plunged into mourning on Tuesday after Olympian Olivia Podmore’s sudden death at the age of 24.

Podmore represented her country at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2018 Commonwealth Games but was not part of New Zealand’s team at the recent Tokyo Games.

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 4:00pm (0400 GMT) on Monday.

Podmore’s cause of death was not confirmed but friends and sports officials said her passing had raised concerns about her mental health.

Former Olympic rowing champion Eric Murray, a friend of Podmore, told New Zealand media he was with her on Monday and said her death was a “shock and a tragedy.”

“I wish she had said something,” the 39-year-old said. “We have lost a sister, a friend and a fighter who lost that will of fight inside of her.

New Zealand media reported Podmore had recently described the pressures of elite sport in a post on her social media.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2021