More than 100 Olympic and Commonwealth athletes attended the forum to share their experiences from lockdown. 

New Zealand, who have only reported 1,498 coronavirus cases and 21 deaths, have recently eased restrictive measures.

Athletes are now able to return to high-performance training and were advised on how to make the transition during the forum. 

"Start those conversations now and connect with your team to create a positive forum where you can be honest about how you’ve coped," said Black Ferns Sevens captain and Olympic silver medallist Sarah Hirini.

"If you’ve been struggling and you’ve been open about that fact then you’ll have people around who can support you and understand those feelings."

New Zealand Team lead psychologist Kylie Wilson also attended the forum to hear how athletes coped with being in lockdown. 

"We heard that some athletes thrived in lockdown whereas others found it really tough," she said.

"That’s not at all surprising and it’s a very normal response. 

"As we move to level two we’re encouraging athletes to focus on what they can control and be open and flexible so that they can adapt to a fast moving situation.

"The world around us is completely disrupted but we are lucky here in New Zealand to be given a real opportunity, it’s now up to us how we respond to this challenge."

The Athletes’ Commission organised the forum as part of its athlete advocacy programme and are planning to run additional events. 

"We were really pleased with the engagement during the forum and it’s given us some really interesting insights which we’ll be using to advocate on behalf of athletes," said Athletes' Commission chair and former Olympic heptathlete Sarah Cowley-Ross.

"For example, we found that while most athletes are feeling confident about their journey towards upcoming pinnacle Games there are some that are nervous to resume normal training after being in lockdown."