Born in Christchurch in 1997, Olivia was the daughter of Philip and Nienke (née Tabak) Podmore. She had one elder brother, Mitchell.[1][2][4] She was educated at Middleton Grange School.[5]
Her great-grandfather, Cornelis Gerardus Tabak, was an Olympic weightlifter for Holland in the 1928 Amsterdam Games.[6]
Career
Podmore started out cycling in BMX at age nine, later moving to road cycling and then to track cycling.[5]
In 2017, Podmore was the New Zealand keirin champion.[13] At that year's Oceania Track Championships, Podmore came second in the 500 metres time trial event, and she came second alongside Emma Cumming in the team sprint event.[14] She competed for New Zealand at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.[15] She was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the individual sprint competition[16] and came sixth in the keirin event at the games.[17] She won the 500 metres time trial event at the 2019 Oceania Track Cycling Championships[18] and competed in the team sprint event at the 2019 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.[19] She competed in the same event at the 2020 Championships.[20]
Podmore died in Cambridge on the evening of 9 August 2021, aged 24.[1] Her death is a suspected suicide and was referred to the coroner.[8][21] Hours before her death, she posted on Instagram about the pressures of high-performance sport.[15][21] Podmore's funeral was held in Christchurch on 13 August 2021.[22] She was buried in Christchurch's Yaldhurst cemetery.[23]
assessing the adequacy of the implementation of the recommendations from the 2018 Heron Report; identification of areas of further improvement that would ensure the wellbeing of athletes, coaches, support staff and others involved in Cycling New Zealand’s high performance programme are a top priority within the environment;
assessment of the support offered to athletes at critical points within Cycling New Zealand’s high performance programme (by both Cycling New Zealand and HPSNZ), with a particular emphasis on induction, selection and exit transitions;
assessment of the impact that HPSNZ investment and engagement has on Cycling New Zealand’s high performance programme;
assessment of the impacts of high performance programmes which require elite athletes to be in one location for most of the year, with a particular focus on Cambridge; and
an understanding of what steps can be taken to improve current and future practices, policies and governance of Cycling New Zealand’s high performance programme with a view to ensuring the safety, wellbeing and empowerment of all individuals within that environment.
