Tag Archives: Team Canada

The Value of Your Story – and Thank You

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<La version française suit>

How and what we reflect on an experience continues to evolve for years.

Holy moly. It’s mid October 2021!! We’ve been home from Tokyo for two months already and the 2022 Olympic Winter Games are less than four months away?!! How does time move so slowly and then whoosh… it just takes off?!!

It’s taken me longer than expected to write this (last) message to you. I’m sorry about that – but perhaps you understand. I had a great time coming home; getting caught up and reconnected mentally, physically and emotionally. But as happens after every major Games something was missing, and once again that affected me; but I’m coming through it now. Ah nee nah

My delay came from a waning feeling of purpose. Perhaps you’ve felt this too. Preparing for the Olympics has always made defining my daily why and what for my pre-Games days, weeks and months so easy. I’ll admit that I’ve come home from more than a few Games into a doldrums of purpose that could get dark at times. Dark…that’s the word my generation used for depressing. I would often get depressed after Games, but I was lucky – it rarely took much for me to refresh my purpose and spirit. I know that Game Plan advisors have reached out to you (all the athletes), and I took great comfort in that. They are still available to you, don’t hesitate to ask for help if you need it. Ah nee nah

That five year cycle was a grind, and the next (if you’re hungry for more) – at only three years – will crank up quickly. Take the time you need to recover, get your physical and emotional battery back in the top half and determine what your new whats and whys are going to be; it’s important for your future physical and mental performance. 

I strongly believe in the message I sent as you left Japan; that everything that you gave there, your Olympic Everything, was far more than just your performance in Tokyo (or Sapporo). It was more than just your talents on the field of play.

I want to draw your attention to the value of you and the story that you have to share now. The skills that you gained from your Olympic campaign during a pandemic would stand up in any executive training environment. While the world is talking about the need for resilience, you and your team exemplified how to creatively adapt and roll with the roughest seas all while keeping your eyes on your prize. Talking about goal-setting is one thing, but a conversation with you on goal-achieving would be a master class. Please don’t forget that.

Your story – this adventure you’re living – has incredible worth. How you value things like 1cm, 1/100th of a second, a point or ½ kg is inspirational. Think about what you know about commitment, preparation, managing change and challenge, team work, communication, stress management, mental/physical health management, resetting after victory/resetting after loss, and of course – resilience. What you take for granted as common practice is mind-blowing to others.

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Hi from Marnie! – Let’s go to Tokyo believing in more!

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Hi – Konnichiwa !  –  I’m your Chef de Mission for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. (What’s a Chef de Mission you ask? Good Question. I’m not sure as an athlete I totally knew either.) 

Technically, the Chef de Mission is the Head of Delegation of an Olympic Team. The COC has professionals who have already been making operational and logistical decisions for you – so that’s off my plate.  I suppose this leaves me with roles like: ambassador, advocate, mentor; and cheerleader in chief.  Ultimately – I hope to be a resource to you, for whatever you need leading up to and throughout the Games

My goal is when you arrive at the Olympic Games that you compete with all the swagger and confidence that you have in your favourite environments; regular Tour competitions/tournaments, World Cups, World Championships, etc.  I want you to feel so good at the Olympics that you can live up to the potential that you have given yourself.

When you get to Tokyo – My goal is that Team Canada is a Team that believes in MORE; that we can TRY MORE, LEARN MORE, DO MORE, or BE MORE all the time.  I hope that you realize that this Philosophy of MORE applies to more than just sport; that it’s who you are and how you can lead (and win) by example. 

But wait – who am I?  My name is Marnie McBean and the Tokyo2020 Olympics will be my 10th Games. I went to 3 Olympics; Barceona92, Atlanta96 and Sydney2000, as a rower. I won 2 golds at my first Games (Women’s Pair and Women’s Eight), a 3rd gold (Women’s Double) and a bronze (Women’s Quad) at my second, and earned 2 ruptured discs, a DNS (Women’s Single) and a lower back surgery at my 3rd Games. I did media in Athens, and since then I’ve been on 5 Mission Teams as a Specialist in Olympic Athlete Preparation and Mentoring. Three Winter Games (Turin, Vancouver, Sochi) and two Summer Games (Beijing, London) taught me a lot about the different sports and sport cultures. I have had countless conversations with veterans and rookies about believing in self, doubting self, being on track, and being off-track. 

In the next 10 months I hope to be part of conversations that normalize all the chaos – the ups, downs and WTF’s – that are going to come along with your audacious ambitions of being great – as an individual, or as part of a team at the Olympics. 

How am I going to do that? I’m not totally sure. I’ll start with notes like this one, then maybe conversations on-line or face-to-face; we’ll figure it out. I know it will be different for everyone. My goal for these conversations is not to add to the stress of your Olympic Journey but to help you feel comfortable carrying the stress that you have already chosen.   

Chat soon, 

            Marnie 

Marnie McBean OC OLY

Chef de Mission Team Canada Tokyo 2020

mmcbean@olympic.ca  

You got this email because you are on the long list, as an athlete, coach, support staff or mission staff, for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. I welcome replies and questions. Agree with me or disagree with me I’m happy to hear it – but most importantly – if this starts a conversation with your teammates, your coach – or yourself – about what you are doing or need to be doing – then we’re on our way towards MORE. 

Some quotes to leave you with today… 

On accepting stress – 

  •  “As soon as you assign meaning to something, there will be stress” Alex Bilodeau- 2x Olympic Gold – 1st Canadian to win Gold in Canada.  
  • “I had been scared about the Olympics, but then when it was over, I realized it was just a race”. Marc, Gagnon – 3x Olympic Gold, 1 Silver, Short Track Speed Skating.  

I am so happy to share the news! I have been named as Canada’s Chef de Mission for Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic Games

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TORONTO, Ont. – Team Canada’s Chef de Mission for the Tokyo 2020 games Marnie McBean poses for a portrait at the Argonauts Rowing Club . Photo by Andrew Lahodynskyj

July 1, 2019

OTTAWA (July 1, 2019) – Toronto native Marnie McBean, one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians, has been named Team Canada’s Chef de Mission for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The Canadian Olympic Committee made the announcement Monday on Parliament Hill in Ottawa as part of official Canada Day celebrations.

McBean made two Olympic appearances in rowing where she captured four medals, including three gold, making her one of just two Canadians to be a triple gold medallist at the Summer Games. The other is Kathleen Heddle, McBean’s partner in the coxless pair at Barcelona 1992 and in the double sculls at Atlanta 1996. They were also members of the champion eights crew in Barcelona and won bronze in the quadruple sculls in Atlanta.

McBean says she still is not sure how she was able to accomplish what she did at the Games.

“Looking back, it’s incredible to me that I was able to have so many amazing Olympic moments,” said McBean. “It’s like, how did “someone like me” do that?” 

“At my first Games, I’m not sure which was the bigger asset, the volumes of our training and preparation or the fact that we were young and naive.”

“As Kathleen and I approached our second Games, the expectation that we would win threatened to take away all the joy but we found a way to keep the lead. It’s true that winning never gets easier.”

Over her rowing career, representing Canada from 1987 to 2000, McBean won a total of 12 World and Olympic medals. 

An Officer of the Order of Canada, McBean was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1994 and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. She is a recipient of the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Medal and has been given the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2002, she was presented the Thomas Keller Medal by World Rowing in recognition of her outstanding international career.

Canadian Olympic Committee President Tricia Smith, who is a four-time Olympian and Olympic silver medallist in rowing, says she is delighted for her fellow Rowing Canada Aviron alumnus.

“I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Marnie over the years and have always been amazed by her accomplishments. She is an incredible individual. Since her own sport success, she has been an inspiration and mentor for many of Canada’s athletes, helping them succeed even beyond the field of play. She is a legend in our sport and I know she will be equally as exceptional as Chef de Mission!”

The responsibilities of being Team Canada’s Chef de Mission will not be anything new to McBean. Since retiring from competition in 2000 due to a back injury, she has been an active athlete mentor and advocate.

“In Sydney, when the chance to medal disappeared with a blown disc in my back, I learned more about myself, kindness and the Olympics, than I could otherwise have imagined,” said McBean. “I suppose the door to my becoming a mentor opened right then.”

McBean has worked with the Canadian Olympic Committee in the recent past as a specialist in Olympic Athlete Preparation and Mentoring. Her objective was to prepare athletes emotionally and psychologically to give their best performance possible at the Olympic Games.

“Canadians used to be uncomfortable declaring their confidence on the world stage, and it showed in our performance – we were putting our goals in chalk instead of stone,” said McBean.

“Without arrogance, now Canadians bravely project readiness and our ambitions indelibly in stone. To find that courage, the message I share with elite athletes, school kids and corporations, is that there are no superheroes out there. It’s ordinary people like us, like you, who achieve incredible things.”

While her focus will be performance on the field of play, McBean says one of her main objectives will be to create a safe and welcoming environment for Team Canada to speak openly about their passions outside sport.

“It is our role as the Mission Team to do everything we can so that when an athlete’s Olympic competition begins they are in peak condition. Athletes shouldn’t arrive to their field of play exhausted and stressed from trying to negotiate social and cultural barriers.”

“Our team is going to be a safe and open space for self-expression and dialogue. We make ourselves stronger when we include everyone, consider all perspectives and weigh critical feedback.”

Fifty-six years after hosting the Olympic Games for the first time, the city of Tokyo will welcome the world again from July 24 to August 9, 2020. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Program will feature 33 sports with 339 medal events. More than 11,000 athletes and officials from 206 countries are expected to attend the Games.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Josh Su, Specialist, Public Relations
Canadian Olympic Committee
C: 647-464-4060
E: jsu@olympic.ca