Kitty Chiller, the chef de mission of Australia's 2016 Olympic Games team, says the poor behaviour that tarnished the team's campaign in London four years ago will not be tolerated in Rio.
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"No individual is bigger than their sport," she declared.
London was a public relations nightmare for Australia. Top swimmers were punished after they breached the team's curfew and rules on prescription drugs and alcohol. There were also allegations of bullying in the swimming squad, and infighting in the athletics team, and a rower was arrested during his post-Games competition celebrations.
The Australian Olympic Committee launched its "Road to Rio: IGNITE" program, a workshop to help Olympic hopefuls learn from experienced campaigners such as Matt Shirvington and Melinda Gainsford-Taylor (athletics); Katrina Powell (hockey); Dennis Green and Robin Bell (canoeing); and team motivator Laurie Lawrence.
Chiller, who competed as a modern pentathlete in Sydney, reinforced the values, traditions and culture the Olympic team had built since Edwin Flack was the nation's lone competitor in the 1896 Athens Games as she addressed a group of 100 hopefuls on Wednesday – 623 days before the cauldron is ignited in Rio's main stadium.
"You'll be adding your names to a 120-year-old team," Chiller said. "There are only 3500 Australian Olympians ... a minute percentage of the total percentage of Australia's population over the last 120 years.
"It just shows how special Olympians are; how special you are, and most importantly how special Australia regards you – regards us – as Olympians.
"But that pride also brings with it a responsibility to recognise and respect that honour, and tradition, of being a member of the Australian Olympic team and ensuring we all think, act and behave at all times in a manner befitting what it means to be an Australian Olympian."
While the meeting was upbeat and inspirational, Chiller did not hide the fact that it was part of a concerted push to ensure Australia presented a united team at Brazil.
"No individual is more special than any other in our team," she said. "No individual is bigger than their sport and no sport is bigger than the entire Australian team. No individual, sport or country is bigger then the Olympic Games."
She said an athlete welfare and security officer would join the team's support staff, citing Rio's high crime rate as the reason.
Have returned from a fact-finding mission last month, Chiller said while Rio was a "beautiful city, geographically" there were safety concerns.
"I have always felt very safe in my visits to Rio," she said. "I think the security aspect in respect of our preparation for these Games is quite different to how we prepared for the security aspect around London, which was perhaps more terrorism based.
"We have, for the first time, an athlete welfare and security officer travelling with us in the team and he'll be preparing full briefings so we know there's area's – the favelas [slums] for instance – where you won't be going."
