As Australia’s Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller faces same obstacles she did as a modern pentathlete

THERE have been many testing moments for Kitty Chiller in the lead up to Rio, with social media abuse and hate mail so vile her underlings at the AOC refused to show her.

Australia‘s Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller. Picture: John Appleyard

IN another life Kitty Chiller was a Napoleonic courier who swam, shot and jousted her way through a treacherous battleground all in the name of getting a message through.

Bullets flew, swords flashed but she ducked and weaved and emerged a stronger woman for her rugged journey.

Chiller was once a modern pentathlete and her five discipline competition of running, shooting, riding, fencing and swimming was based on the journey of a 19th century soldier dispatched to get an important message through enemy lines.

These days, everything and nothing has changed.

In her new role as chef de mission of Australia’s 410-strong team for the Rio Olympics, Chiller no longer lugs 50kg of gear including swords and guns around Europe by herself, eating bananas and baguettes when cash was short as it often was.

But the theme is so similar it’s almost spooky.

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Kitty Chiller competing in the modern pentathlon at the Sydney Games.

Her role is still about delivering the message and being strong enough to wear the bullets and barbs which fly at her from all directions.

“There is that connection there — modern pentathlon is based on the messenger and that is what I have been trying to get through for the past three years and at times it’s not easy,’’ Chiller said.

Tongue-tied news readers may have accidentally referred to her as Kitty Litter and Chitty Killer but there is no mistaking the identity of the lady who has been on a three year crusade to upgrade Australia’s Olympic behavioural standards following the debacle of the London Olympics which ended with a sleeping tablet scandal engulfing the Australian swim team.

The final rating of the success of her efforts cannot be made until after the Olympics but one tangible benefit is that Australia’s Olympic sponsorship base has exceeded expectations by more than $9 million as corporate Australia senses a lift in standards from London.

There have been many testing moments such as a public stouch with tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios who referred to her as “that Kitty Chiller’’ and social media abuse and hate mail so vile her underlings at the AOC refused to show her.

“The good part of it is I just got another email out of the blue from a president of one of our Olympic sports to say “thank you for everything you do for standing up for the values of what we are about,’’ Chiller said.

Kitty Chiller will lead Australia at the Rio Games. Picture: John Appleyard

“That feedback from the sports has been really heartening.

“But there has been times when it has been very difficult.

“The personal abuse on social media has been horrific. I try to practice what we preach to the athletes and try and not to read it. Sometimes you can’t help it.

“I have received hate mail in here. The staff here been protecting me from it and I have not seen it. In a way I have come out a lot stronger the other side. It has been the devil’s advocate in a way.

“I went off social media for two weeks after the Kyrgios issue. It was terrible and I could barely look at it. But at the end of the day I came through it and the thing that got me back is that you are doing it for the Campbell’s, Mitch Larkins and Jess Foxes and many others.”

While she may feel the criticisms, Chiller says her sporting experience conditioned her to trust her instincts and roll with the punches.

“The thing about my pentathlon career is that I had to do it on my own,” she said. “I travelled on my own. I was lugging a giant fencing bag and my gun around Europe. I was living on baguettes and bananas because I could not afford big meals. It was tough.

Nick Kyrgios has waged a running battle with Chiller.

“All the competitions were in Europe so I lived in France for five months a year.

“It was cheap. I would catch trains around Europe rather than pay for flights even though I was carrying 50kg of gear around. I remember getting to a competition and I would be exhausted.’’

Chiller’s drive for decent behaviour was partly triggered by her own Olympic experience when she ran 14th at the Sydney Olympics in an event held just hours before the closing ceremony when the Games Village was in party mode and she had to swap rooms to avoid the noise of athletes playing with a fire hydrant at 2am.

“I am not after revenge or anything like that,” Chiller said.

“I want athletes to enjoy themselves but my experience showed me you just don’t want to see athletes having their performances compromised by other people’s behaviour.’’

Since being appointed three years ago Chiller has thrown herself into her role by training with competitors in 14 Olympic sports which resulted in her getting two black eyes from boxer Shelley Watts and being flipped upside down in a canoe in raging waters, perhaps the only time in the her stint she has literally felt up the creek without a paddle.

Originally published as As Australia’s Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller faces same obstacles she did as a modern pentathlete