{"id":661056,"date":"2026-06-27T12:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/661056\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T12:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:03:18","slug":"sammie-maxwell-takes-break-from-cycling-to-focus-on-eating-disorder-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/661056\/","title":{"rendered":"Sammie Maxwell takes break from cycling to focus on eating disorder recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CyclingCycling New Zealand expressed concerns about Sammie\u2019s health. Photo \/ NZ Woman’s Weekly<\/p>\n

Four months before the 2024 Paris Olympics, Cycling New Zealand expressed concerns about Sammie\u2019s health. She was suffering from a range of issues related to disordered eating, including poor reproductive health, low bone density and unregulated hormones.<\/p>\n

She agreed to stop competing and training, and started treatment with an eating disorder clinic. Sammie had been through treatment before at 15 when she was first diagnosed with anorexia nervosa<\/a> [an eating disorder where people severely restrict what they eat, leading to life-threatening weight loss], but admits once she reached a healthy weight, she put her \u201chead in the sand\u201d as her career started to take off.<\/p>\n

Sammie was devastated when, after months of work on her health, Cycling NZ still refused to put her forward for selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was damned if I do, damned if I don\u2019t,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI knew my body was capable and ready to race. But it\u2019s hard when someone with a mental health issue comes to you and says, \u2018I\u2019m good, trust me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SammieSammie was determined and appealed to the Sports Tribunal. Photo \/ Michelle Cutelli<\/p>\n

Sammie is all too aware she has a finite number of chances to compete for Olympic glory and wasn\u2019t going to let one of them slip through her fingers, so she appealed to the Sports Tribunal. Less than two weeks before the opening ceremony, she was overjoyed when she received news she would be on the start line.<\/p>\n

Although it was an emotionally taxing journey, Sammie appreciates that if Cycling New Zealand<\/a> hadn\u2019t expressed its concerns, she probably would have lacked the courage and support to seek treatment for her anorexia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the timing wasn\u2019t great, I am grateful that they unapologetically chose my health over performance. Since then, we\u2019ve worked together to develop a really great relationship,\u201d says Sammie, who placed eighth in Paris. \u201cNow I\u2019m working on bone density and I have access to a specialist eating disorder therapist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SammieSammie stormed to overall victory in the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike Cross-country World Series. Photo \/ NZ Woman’s Weekly<\/p>\n

That support helped Sammie cement her place in New Zealand cycling history books. In the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike Cross-country World Series, she stormed to overall victory, finishing on the podium nine out of the 10 races in the championship.<\/p>\n

While she\u2019s proud of how far she has come in managing her eating disorder, Sammie admits she always knew she would have to take an extended break to truly conquer it.<\/p>\n

She explains, \u201cWhen I\u2019m in that environment, it\u2019s really hard to distinguish where my drive comes from. If I ride around the block for an extra 30 seconds during my training, was that driven by the desire to burn calories or from Sammie the cyclist?\u201d<\/p>\n

It is especially hard being surrounded by athletes engaged in restrictive eating behaviours and accepting that some of them can happily sit down for a bowl of pasta if they want.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to constantly remind myself that they aren\u2019t in the same situation,\u201d she shares. \u201cI know they would be able to gain weight if they needed to, and would love to go to a cafe and have coffee and a cake.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy eating disorder<\/a> fires up every time I eat a meal. As athletes, we do that 50% of our waking day, so I\u2019m spending 50% of my life in this fight-or-flight response. It\u2019s really exhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she focuses on her treatment, Sammie knows this is the greatest gift she could give herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m working through my eating disorder. My next goal is to be able to stand on the podium and say, \u2018I\u2019ve beaten it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cycling New Zealand expressed concerns about Sammie\u2019s health. Photo \/ NZ Woman’s Weekly Four months before the 2024…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[63464,25238,221661,4985,54733,4014,60157,12781,54476,900,57278,63484,6903,12680,221659,38107,44497,101,44963,1850,56,54,55,71,221660],"class_list":["post-661056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-bike","tag-break","tag-crosscountry","tag-cycling","tag-disorder","tag-eating","tag-ever","tag-first","tag-focus","tag-from","tag-maxwell","tag-mountain","tag-on","tag-recovery","tag-sammie","tag-series","tag-should","tag-sports","tag-takes","tag-to","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-world","tag-zealander"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}