RIO 2016: The Rio Olympic Games in August 2016 will shine like a beacon of peace in a troubled world.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, said “the IOC applauds the General Assembly once more for recognising sport as an important enabler to foster peace and understanding”.
Bach spoke of their common goal of “the peaceful development of humankind”.
“Sport is always about building bridges it is never about erecting walls” he said.
“In Olympic sport, all people are equal, regardless of their race, gender, social status, cultural background, faith or belief. This fundamental principle of non-discrimination allows sport to promote peace and understanding among all people”.
Bach made special mention of the atmosphere created in the Athlete’s Village during the Games. “In the Olympic Village, we see tolerance and solidarity in their purest form. Athletes from all 206 National Olympic Committees are living together in harmony and without any kind of discrimination. In what is literally a global Village, the athletes get to know and understand each other not just on a human level by sharing their experiences, emotions and meals. They share also their respect for excellence, victory and defeat”.
These are the principles embraced by the Chef de Mission of the Australian Olympic Team, Kitty Chiller, as she prepares to lead a Team of around 450 Australian athletes to Rio.
As the first woman appointed as a Chef de Mission of an Australian Olympic Team, Chiller has spent the past two years travelling the country meeting athletes from the different sports and sharing her vision for the Team.
She has set a goal for her athletes “to be the most respected Team at the Rio Games”.
“I stress the need for our athletes to show respect and humility, to show pride in the blazer and understand the standards of behaviour set by the Olympic legends from Australia who have come before them. I want the Team to play hard but enjoy themselves and never lose that larrikin spirit that Australians are renowned for” she said.
Chiller who competed in Modern Pentathlon for Australia at the Sydney 2000 Games has established a great repour with the athletes in the Shadow Team for Rio. She is on first name basis with most and being an athlete she fully understands their needs.
She is focused on the job ahead and is well aware of the challenges the Team faces in August 2016. There are security issues in Rio with athletes being robbed at some of the Test events. There are problems with water pollution, particularly at sailing, triathlon, open water swimming, rowing and canoe.
The health and wellbeing of the athletes is paramount.
Transport is another major challenge and to avoid traffic jams and stress on athletes trying to reach their venues, the Australian Team Executive has decided up to 150 athletes will need to live outside the Olympic Village and closer to their venues.
The Rio organisers are still racing the clock to have everything finished on time. In 2013 the President of the Australian Olympic Committee, and IOC Vice President, John Coates, was critical of the preparations. The Brazilians reacted badly to his blunt assessment of their progress at that time. What has now become known as the “Coates touch up, (CTU)” has gone full circle with Rio Organisers now acknowledging that the criticism was the “wake up call they needed”.
With the Team split into different sections, particularly rowing and sailing there is extra pressure on support staff to ensure the athletes are relaxed and ready to perform.
Late in 2015 the ASPIRE series started. The program will travel around Australia over the next few months outlining to athletes the Team Agreement they must sign to be a member of the Australian Olympic Team. During these sessions they are briefed on everything from anti-doping, social media, ambush marketing, uniform requirements, tickets and travel. They are also measured for uniforms.
The AOC is spending $35m on the Rio campaign- $23m to send the Team to Brazil and another $12m to prepare the Team.
But the Team is not “taxpayer funded”. The AOC neither seeks nor receives Federal Government funding. The $35m comes from the generosity of the Olympic sponsors who value the power of the brand and being associated with the world’s greatest sporting event.
After winning only 35 medals, including 7 gold, at London 2012, Chiller is quietly confident the Team will lift in 2016 with big improvement in swimming and sailing, hockey and cycling continuing to do well.
Chiller is hoping rowing and athletics can lift and some of the smaller sports can gain a place on the medal podium. In Sydney 2000, when Australia won a record 58 medals, the Team medalled across 20 different sports.
For Australia to regain its place in the top five nations on the medal tally sports like shooting, archery, triathlon, taekwondo, basketball and water polo need to medal. Chiller is buoyant about the chances of the two new sports on the program, rugby sevens (men and woman) and golf (men and women).
From a Team prospective, Chiller likes what she saw at the Rugby World Cup.
“Australians love sport. It’s ingrained in our culture” she said.
“Australians are proud of many things, but perhaps more than any measure, our national pride is defined by sporting success on the world stage.
Australians admire our sports men and women who compete hard, but they admire them even more when they compete with humility.
"We saw this on display with the Wallabies at the Rugby World Cup. It wasn’t the results… it was the way they played the game on and off the field.
"Their approach, their attitude was everything. It was ALL about the Team. They played under a motto of ‘Stronger as One’. They played for each other, for their Team and for their country.
"They thanked their fans at every opportunity. They were as humble in victory as they were in defeat. And they made no excuses.
"As their campaign unfolded, they restored the pride back into the Wallaby jersey. They managed to capture that essence of sport that stirs pride. They generated a momentum that swept everyone along with them."
Chiller believes Australia's Olympic greats have also done this.
"Herb Elliott, Murray Rose, Betty Cuthbert, Marjorie Jackson, Shane Gould….and of late Susie O’Neill, the Oarsome Foursome, Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman. These legends set the example. They wore their Australian blazer with confidence, pride and humility.
"They all competed hard - with grit and determination - and they all conquered the world. But at the end of their race they looked their opponent in the eye and shook hands - in victory and in defeat.
"This is quite simply, the Australian way and this is the way we want to be”.
Mike Tancred
AOC
