Swimming New Zealand Rocked By Independent Report Calling For Overhaul, Ousting of President

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, May 18. SWIMMING New Zealand is preparing for the public release of an independent, government-funded review of its organization that states a complete overhaul is needed to bring the country back to financial prosperity.

Media reports in the island country initially claimed that federation President Mike Byrne had cleaned out his office today, but had not resigned. According to report by 3News, Byrne has issued a statement that he has not resigned or left his office.

The details of the report will not be made public until report committee chair Chris Moller, a former executive with New Zealand Rugby, has had the opportunity to present it to all of New Zealand's stakeholders this weekend. Several aspects of the review have been reported in the media, including a recommendation that the board of directors resign and the organization's charter be “torn up and re-written from scratch,” according to the website stuff.co.nz.

The members of Swimming New Zealand have until May 28 to respond to the findings in the review, with a general meeting expected to take place July 1.

Swimming New Zealand has been under scrutiny for a couple of years, with previous reports prompting the firing of high performance manager Jan Cameron last September and the sudden retirement of Olympic 200 butterfly finalist Moss Burmester after he claimed the organization did not fully support athletes.

Moller called the timing of the release of the review “unfortunate” in relation to the start of the Olympics, but said it was also a necessary step to take. New Zealand has not officially named its Olympic swimming team yet, but world-ranked swimmers such as Lauren Boyle, Glenn Snyders, Gareth Kean, Daniel Bell and Natalie Wiegersma are expected to compete in London.

Read the full report from stuff.co.nz

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use