Kim Brennan appointed Youth Olympics chef de mission for 2018

Kim Brennan could be on the path to AOC leadership after being appointed Youth Olympics chef de mission.

Rio gold medallist Kim Brennan will chef de mission for Australia’s team at the Youth Olympics in Argentina next year.

Olympic gold medallist Kim Brennan received a crash course in sports politics during the bitterly-contested Australian Olympic Committee election this month, and she’s about to receive another in team management as she starts out on a path that could eventually lead to higher Olympic office.

The announcement went almost unnoticed during the AOC’s annual general meeting, which was focused on the contest between incumbent John Coates and challenger Danni Roche for the presidency, but Brennan has been appointed as the chef de mission of the Australian team that will attend the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires next year.

Such roles are widely regarded as a training ground for future Olympic leaders. Coates was the 1988 chef de mission in Seoul before he was elected president of the AOC in 1990, while long-serving Winter Games chef de mission Ian Chesterman is also an AOC vice-president.

Brennan, who won the single sculls gold medal in Rio last year, knows what this opportunity means and she is eager to pursue it.

“One of the things when you step away from rowing a boat but you still love sport is that you want to be involved in a different capacity,’’ the 31-year-old lawyer said. “This opportunity has come earlier than I expected but I sat on the AOC board for four years as the chair of the athletes commission and I am in leadership roles with the projects I am working on for EY (Ernst and Young), so there are a lot of skills I’ve learned in the last few years.

“I am definitely interested (in serving the AOC) but I am very inexperienced and I have a lot to learn. I think this experience will either give me the desire to be more involved or teach me that it’s not for me.’’

Brennan was appointed leader of the YOG team in February, before the election campaign began, and after previous chef de mission Susie O’Neill decided to stand down.

She had originally accepted the role of deputy leader but was asked to step up when the main role became available.

“It’s really exciting but it’s a little bit scary because there will be a lot of children (around 70 aged between 15 and 18) under my care,’’ she said.

But Brennan has shown a strong ability to keep the boat on an even keel no matter what the conditions. As deputy to current athletes commission chair Steve Hooker, she was thrust into what even veteran political operators described as a vicious election campaign for the AOC presidency this year.

The athletes commission had two highly-prized votes, which Brennan and Hooker were responsible for casting. They took a democratic approach, canvassing widely among athletes before they conducted a vote within the 11-member commission which decided by majority to support Coates. Their decision to announce that before the election attracted some public criticism.

Brennan described the process as “a really good learning experience’’.

“I did find it stressful at times because there were some strong passions on both sides and Steve and I were genuinely trying to represent the will of the athletes,’’ she said.

“We have copped a lot of criticism but we think we made the best decision on the available information.

“It was reported in one paper that the athletes supported Danni overwhelmingly and we still chose to support John. The insinuation was that there were sinister connotations to it, which was taking a bit of licence.’’

Brennan said they decided to announce their intention because so many athletes had contacted them and had strong opinions on the AOC.

“Often there’s an assumption that athletes don’t want be involved in these things but the reality is that there’s a large body of athletes who care and want to have their say,’’ she said.

“It’s a reminder that we should be engaging with them more.’’