Mountain biker to saddle up for Olympics after dispute

Maxwell, who has suffered from an eating disorder since she was 15, earned an Olympic quota place for the Games but was denied a spot by Cycling New Zealand's nominations panel.

The panel decided the 22-year-old had not "discharged the burden of demonstrating that she did not have any mental or physical impairment" that would prevent her from competing at the Games to the highest standard.

Maxwell appealed her exclusion last month to the New Zealand Sports Tribunal which found Cycling New Zealand used a doctor's report containing out-of-date information to assist in its decision to exclude her.

The tribunal also found high performance director Ryan Hollows had influenced the decision by filing a "skewed" memorandum to the nominations panel which expressed concern about Maxwell's health.

The tribunal said it was concerned Cycling New Zealand was taking a discriminatory attitude towards athletes with eating disorders.

"The decision .... is essentially saying that if an athlete has an eating disorder, they must have a mental and/or physical impairment," it said in a summary of the July hearing.

"If this is the case, the result is that it can never select such an athlete. The tribunal finds that to be an uncomfortable precedent to set and is concerned that such an attitude could do more harm than good."

In a New Zealand Olympic Committee statement released on Monday, Maxwell said the past few weeks had been stressful and hectic.

"But I recognise that everyone involved in the process has a shared goal - to put my health and wellbeing first," she said.

"I didn't always agree with how everyone thought that should look, but I am grateful to have so many people around me caring for me and looking out for my health."

Australian Associated Press