Kitty Chiller - First Female Chef de Mission

Equestrian Australia (EA) welcomed the Australia Olympic Committee's announcement today that Sydney Olympian, Kitty Chiller, has been appointed Chef de Mission of the Australian Olympic Team for the Rio Games in 2016.... the first woman to be awarded the honour.

Chiller, who competed in Modern Pentathlon at the Sydney 2000 Games, is a member of the AOC Executive and was chosen as Chef at a meeting in Sydney today.

“This role is the pinnacle of sports management and leadership in the country” she said.

As Chef de Mission she assumes control of the management of the Team providing leadership and ensuring efficient organisation and conduct of the athletes.

She was the Deputy Chef de Mission of the Australian Olympic Team at the 2012 London Games responsible for Athlete Services, Support Services and Medical HQ areas.

Equestrian Australia CEO Grant Baldock, said EA has enjoyed a working relationship with Ms Chiller in the past and EA looks forward to working with her towards Rio Games in 2016.

"On behalf of Equestrian Australia I would like to extend our congratuations to Kitty on this prestigious appointment.  Our team in London enjoyed working with Kitty in her role as Deputy Chef de Mission and are excited to have the chance to work with her again.

"Our sport has been fortuante to also work with Kitty in her past in her role at the Australian Sports Commission where she helped us launch our Ready Set Trot Program as part of the Active After Schools Communitities iniatitive in 2012.

"We look forward to continuing our plans for the Rio Games in 2016 with Kitty and the broader AOC management team," he said. 

She recently joined Surf Life Saving Australia in a senior management role. Previously she was a Deputy General Manager of the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) where she led a workforce of over 200 in a hands on role.      

“Since retiring as an athlete I have committed myself to being a highly effective leader and manager in the sports field. I have held roles at national and international level, leading large teams and with the sole responsibility for time driven, large scale, diverse, multi-faceted programs, with both cultural and logistical complexities.

“I said when I was appointed Deputy Chef de Mission prior to London that was a greater honour than being selected as an athlete, and this obviously tops that. It’s the faith of the AOC Board and the President John Coates and the trust that they have put in me that means an awful lot.

“There are some very important lessons that we need to learn from London. Team structure is one of them. Team structure is related to a focus on high performance and ensuring that we are totally and utterly focused on high performance for the athletes.

“The second one is ensuring that there are strong and prominent and shared values in the Team- among staff and also among athletes. And that is something that is built up from now- it doesn’t just start in August 2016.”

Source: www.olympics.com.au