Meares won two Olympic gold medals during her four campaigns as an athlete from 2004 to 2016.

In this new podcast, En Route to Paris, hosted by three-time Olympian Rowie Webster (Water Polo), Meares shares how she plans to use her experiences to create the perfect environment for this year’s Games.

“The difference I’m finding is that when you’re an athlete in the environment it’s very different to when you lead the Team and trying to create the environment for the athletes to operate in,” Meares said on the podcast.

“I think what has become my purpose, is if I can offer something small, that will help someone somewhere, be better then I've done my job in this position.

“Whereas before it was all about myself and my team.”

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Meares has had some tough challenges away from the velodrome, such as going through divorce, losing her coach Gary West to motor neuron disease, injury, becoming a foster parent and meeting her new husband. But said her two children were her motivation for wanting to succeed in her new role.

“Kids give you an unbelievable smack of reality and perspective that I think has really helped me and I want my kids to be able to see me in this role, and recogniSe Mum,” Meares said. 

“I want them to know that who they see at home is who they see on the TV doing her job, something that she loves helping other people try and succeed.”

Meares said the Olympics were about so much more than gold medals and she wanted to change that messaging in Paris.

“It's not just winning gold medals. It's winning Silver's, it's winning bronze, it's personal best performances. It's being that great sportsman or sportswoman, and it's having your teammates back in a situation. 

“There's so many ways that we can celebrate being good sportsmen and sportswomen. It's not just those gold medals, and as I said before, don't get me wrong, I love to win and hate to lose but there's so much more in between those two points.”

ERIN SMITH - CODE Sports