En Route to Paris: Australian Olympic great, now chef de mission, Anna Meares opens up on our new podcast

Four Olympics, six Olympic medals and this year Anna Meares will head back to the Games in Paris - but not as an athlete. The cycling champion shares insights about her new role.

Anna Meares has described the opportunity to be chef de mission at the Paris Olympics as a full-circle moment and has revealed what’s driving her to lead what is tipped to be Australia’s most successful Olympic team.

Meares, a former cyclist, won two Olympic gold medals during her four campaigns from 2004 to 2016.

In a new podcast, En Route to Paris, hosted by retired Australian water polo player Rowie Webster, Meares shares how she plans to use her experiences to create the perfect environment for the Olympics this year.

“I think 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.

“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 neurone disease, injury, becoming a foster parent and meeting her new husband.

However, she 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.”

Chef de Mission Anna Meares says her kids give her a real sense of perspective. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images for AOC

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

“It’s not just winning gold medals,’’ she said. “It’s winning silvers, it’s winning bronze, it’s personal-best performances.

“It’s being that great sportsman or sportswoman, and it’s having your teammate’s back in a situation.

“There are 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.”

Originally published as En Route to Paris: Australian Olympic great, now chef de mission, Anna Meares opens up on our new podcast