Olympic gold medallists Ian Fergusson, Paul MacDonald and Alan Thompson are threatening to force a vote of no confidence in the board and management of Canoe Racing New Zealand.
The trio are at odds with the sport's CEO Paula Kearns, higher performance manager Wayne Maher and Sport and Recreation NZ, which has led a review of the sport which Thompson says recommends getting rid of trio.
Fergusson and MacDonald have been involved in national coaching roles while Thompson is a board member.
Fergusson's also had a bitter falling out with former world champion and Olympic silver medallist Ben Fouhy.
Thompson claims the review wasn't independent and was simply an exercise to get rid of them.
He says if the review's endorsed by the Canoe Racing board, they have the numbers to force a vote of no confidence.
The board is due to meet on Thursday night to sign off on the review.
SPARC is refusing to comment on the matter until then but says canoe's national body has had problems with insolvency and disharmony among those running the sport and that it only became involved to ensure sound governance and leadership were put in place.
