Squash champion Dame Susan and Olympic chef de mission Mr Currie said they wrote glowing testimonials for Veitch thinking they would be used to help him get his passport back from the court, not in sentencing submissions.
Neither knew Veitch was planning to plead guilty to injuring former partner Kristin Dunne-Powell.
The letters were apparently changed before being handed to Judge Jan Doogue as part of the court file.
Both said sentences referring to the passport were deleted from their original letters.
The changes were discovered after The New Zealand Herald searched the court file.
"Tony indicated he was looking to get his passport back and needed some support for that," Mr Currie said.
"My letter talked about that. It was in the last sentence. I can confirm that has been removed.
"There's nothing in the letter that I don't stand by. But it was a little surprising [to see the letter] was in a different context."
In her letter, Dame Susan said Veitch deserved a chance to get his life back and have the chance to work.
But when she wrote the letter on Monday she believed it would be used to support Veitch's application to have his passport returned.
"To take those letters of support and use them for a different purpose is, in my opinion, a disgrace," Dame Susan said.
"I was happy to write to get his passport back. I thought the trial would be in 2010 or later. It's totally, totally different to writing a character reference for someone who's pleaded guilty to beating up their girlfriend.
"We've been used and manipulated.
"I'm just so disappointed and upset. Who could have taken out that sentence, which was the whole point of the letter?" she asked.
Former Olympic triathlon champion Hamish Carter said he had understood the reference he gave to Veitch was for a job interview and was connected to the broadcaster getting his passport released.
He said Veitch asked him this week for a reference.
Veitch's lawyer, Stuart Grieve QC, did not return phone calls. Veitch's spokeswoman, Glenda Hughes, yesterday telephoned all those who wrote support letters for Veitch.
None knew Veitch was going to plead guilty, but Ms Hughes said only Mr Currie and Dame Susan had raised concerns.
The true reason for the references being sought was kept secret because the sentencing indication the day before Veitch pleaded guilty was confidential.
"We couldn't tell anyone about this, only that the references would go before the court," she said.
She could not say who removed the paragraphs referring to the passport.
The letters from Dame Susan and Mr Currie were among nearly 20 handed in defence submissions to Judge Doogue in support of Veitch.
Others were from All Black coach Graham Henry, former Australian netball captain Kathryn Harby-Williams, NZ Golf chief executive Bill McGowan and Veitch's former TVNZ colleagues Jim Hickey, Susan Wood and Bernadine Oliver-Kerby.
