Episode 114: Team Canada Chef de Mission Marnie McBean

In early December I was interviewed by Jill Jaracz and Alison Brown, hosts of the podcast Olympic Fever. The conversation was a ton of fun… Here is what they posted

Welcome to Olympic Fever, the podcast for fans of the greatest sporting event in the world: The Olympic Games. Each week, hosts Jill Jaracz and Alison Brown explore the stories of the Olympics through its sports, athletes, officials, organizers, host cities, fans and more.

We often hear the title “chef de mission” mentioned during an Olympics, but what is it that a chef actually does? We get the scoop from Team Canada’s chef de mission to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Marnie McBean. 

Marnie is a multi-medal winning Canadian Olympic rower who competed at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, winning 3 gold and 1 bronze. A back injury sidelined her while at Sydney 2000 and led to her retirement. Tokyo 2020 will be her 10th Olympics – she’s gone as an athlete, as a member of the media, and as part of Canada’s chef team. With so many Olympics under her belt, she definitely has some great stories!

You can follow Marnie on Twitter and Insta, and be sure to visit her website.

To listen to the podcast, click here. (Sorry I couldn’t figure out the embed code!

Some of our Team Olympic Fever members have been published recently. Congrats to MCamp for his article in Sport Business Daily and Dr. Micheal Warren for his book reviewin the Journal of Sport History and new Team NZ blog post.

Also, Team Olympic Fever aerialist Emily Cook has taken a job with Classroom Champs, and the dulcet tones of Jason Bryant are announcing an Olympic trials this weekend. 

The IOC Executive Board meeting took place this week, which means we have another chapter in the maranovela. The group made a lot of decisions together, and we’ve got the news on that.

There’s no new news in the Paris 2024 hotelnovela, but there is a new development about the frontrunner to host the surfing competition. This is good–if you can’t have another chapter in the hotelnovela, this development is definitely a good substitute. Keep this item in mind until….oh…..about September 2023.

Plus, we’ve got word on the 2030 and 2032 Olympic bid timeline.

Thanks, as always, to our TOFU sponsor PinCollector.com – it’s the best site to catalog your Olympic pin collection, buy, sell and trade! It’s free to join and transaction fees are low.

Through PinCollector, we’ve gotten our own Olympic Fever pin! Get your own by becoming a Patreon patron or donating $20 or more through Paypal. Visit our Support page for more details and get yours before they’re all gone!

We’d love to hear your thoughts! We’re at info@olymfever.com or 530-7-O-FEVER. You can also find us on Twitter and Insta or join in the conversation on our Facebook Group. And help us find more of our people–review the show on your favorite podcasting platform and share it with a friend.

Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!

Comfort vs Magic

This message is really simple – and at the same time it is what makes everything so hard. No matter what your role is within your sport – your rank in Canada, or in the World, my guess is that in this next year you want to do more than you’ve ever done before. To do that you’ll have to be outside of your comfort zone way more than you’re in it. That is where magic often happens.

The above image has been around for a while, I first saw it when an adventurer, Bruce Kirkby, encouraged an audience to alter their routine, get out of their comfort zone and find their own adventure. It’s not just about what we physically do, it is also about exploring the boundaries that we set when we dream; set directions, intentions and goals. We can’t expect to be comfortable while trying to do something hard, aka new, special, or magical (Yes, this is the whole ‘be comfortable being uncomfortable’ speech). We have to let that comfort go. 

Trust in your preparation plan—all of it – for qualification, selection and competitions. Let your experiences (and those of your team mates, your coaches) give you confidence – your (collective) “done list” is massive! Trust that you are experienced; trust that you are really good and that you’re doing everything in your power to be better. And then, with all that trust in your back pocket…. let yourself stretch; reach physically, mentally and emotionally.

Your job every day is to shift and grow your comfort zone by getting out of it.

Chat soon, 

            Marnie 

Marnie McBean OC OLY

Chef de Mission Team Canada Tokyo 2020

p.s.   Think of this as a talking point; you may agree with me, maybe disagree… I welcome replies and questions. Let it serve as a conversation starter, a heads up or reminder to the ups and downs that are a natural point of believing that you can do more than just go, more than just compete, but compete at your very BEST at your Olympics. My goal will never be to add to your stress, but to help you wear it well.