Olympics in Anna’s sights - again

Two years out from the 2028 Olympic Games, Moreton Bay already has one representative on the plane to Los Angeles - Anna Mears.

The cycling legend, who moved to Moreton Bay 18 months ago, has been reappointed chef du mission of the Australian Olympic team.

In the same role - which translates to chief of team - Mears was at the head of Australia’s most successful Olympic team which won a record 18 golds in Paris 2024.

The first Australian athlete to win medals in four successive Olympics told a Champions in Business lunch at North Lakes Hotel her main job is to “problem solve”.

However, Mears’ keynote speech to the lunch hosted by Greater Caboolture, Pine Rivers and North Lakes Chambers of Commerce, started with it’s a “pleasure to be here as a citizen of Moreton Bay”.

Returning from New Zealand two years ago, Mears and her husband were “looking for a place like where we grew up” and within a certain radius of Brisbane Airport.

“Moreton Bay was where we landed. It just stood out,” she said, “we didn’t get the first house and looked at other areas but there was something that kept calling us back.

“After six weeks we did go back and lived in our caravan to see what the community (where she now lives) was like. We fell in love with it and haven’t left!”

From her Moreton Bay base, Mears will reprise her Paris role, where she led a team covering 33 sports and worked with “partners, corporates, sponsors, uniform providers” and more.

“I am the spokesperson for the (Australian Olympic) team,” she said, “but the headline and story has to be about the athletes, their journey.”

However, she “implored” Moreton Bay businesses to “jump in, make yourselves known, understand what it is you can offer and what your measure of success is in that offer.

“You don’t have to be the biggest business to be able to be a part of this,” she said.

“You can have small contributions that make the running of these games super smooth and for these athletes to have the best experience.”

That same passion has been a key part in Mears’ remarkable sporting “journey”.

The youngest of four children, she started cycling in Middlemount, central Queensland. The closest club was 300kms away in Mackay.

The family moved to Rockhampton and opened a barbecue chicken takeaway shop. It also enabled Mears to have her first cycling coach.

She then went to Adelaide on an AIS scholarship and in 15 years as an elite athlete won 18 gold, 13 silver and 10 bronze medals at Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games.

Behind that glittering career were countless hours of dedication, training and recovering from injury - notably at the age of 22 following a horrific velodrome crash at 65km/h.

Mears badly bruised her right hip, dislocated her right shoulder, torn shoulder ligaments, vast skin abrasions - and broke her neck. Seven months later she won Olympic silver.

“How you look at a situation can dictate the choices you make ,” Mears said, “the trajectory you come out.”

The same determination was needed when Mears retired from cycling admitting her “general happiness took a big dive”.

“It took a long time for me to find my feet in life without sport and life without cycling. Who I was as Anna and what normal was,” she said.

Her husband helped find the answer, asking: “If you can do anything without the fear of judgement or performing to the same level you did as an athlete what would you choose to do?”

“Without hesitation I said chef du mission for Australia,” said Mears, who followed his advice to “upskill, find mentors … and tell people”.

From deputy chef du mission at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Mears became chef du mission for Paris … and is now looking forward to Los Angeles.

Read more about the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games on Moreton Daily Business