LISTEN: In this week's Extra Time podcast, will greater protections for athlete welfare make a difference?
High Performance Sport New Zealand have made a major shift, with athlete welfare the main focus in their new strategy.
That's in response to several national sporting organisations being accused of mistreating athletes.
Allegations of bullying, fat shaming and abuse forced several organisations to undergo both internal and external reviews of their protocols and policies around athlete well being and high performance.
Join RNZ's Joe Porter on Extra Time as we speak to High Performance Sport NZ's chief executive Michael Scott, the Athletes Federation's Roger Mortimer and Waikato club and New Zealand youth rowing coach Hannah Starnes, to discuss the shift in strategy.
Will it work? How will athlete welfare be monitored? Will it affect performance?
We also hear about the pressures athletes face from a high profile sportswoman who retired from top flight sport last week and the government is being urged to make Covid-19 vaccination compulsory for all NZ athletes going to this year's Tokyo Olympics.
