ALUMNI
SPECIAL EDITION
FIONA de Jong made a secret pact with herself while standing on the blocks at the Bond University swimming pool on the morning of September 23, 1993. Little did she know that this pact would drive her chosen path in law and information technology to a career in the lofty world of the Australian Olympic Committee. It was 5.30am and International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch's had just announced Sydney as host for the 2000 Olympic Games. At the time, de Jong was training for triathlons, a sport into which she stumbled because it offered a sweet balance of extremes – the physical pain of training and the intellectual stimulation of studying. “It was a heartbeat decision standing on the block at the end of the pool that I committed to myself to make the Australian team,” says de Jong. “I didn’t tell anyone, but I secretly went about my training in an entirely different way because I was inspired by what was possible. At the time triathlon wasn’t even on the sports program for the Olympics in 2000.” The decision paid off for de Jong who made the Australian team between 1994 and 1996. However, she does concede that the rigours of training and completing a double degree in law and IT on a scholarship were challenging.
Pact for OLYMPIC GLORY Fiona de Jong may have abandoned her dream for Olympic glory in favour of a career in law long ago, but the burning ambition ignited on the blocks of the Bond University pool in early spring 1993 led this new mum on a path that held true to her passion for sport.
“There were many days when I would train for six hours, study for six hours and sleep for six hours, so it was pretty full on,” she says. De Jong continued her affair with sport even after graduating and starting work with a law firm practising IT and IP for several years. She later took an in-house role with Colonial First State, where she developed further her IT experience by working on the early pitfalls of electronic transactions for the financial services industry. “In that role I played translator between the lawyers and the tech-heads,” De Jong says. “They were skills I acquired at Bond when you walked through the Law School to the IT School; you had a different vocabulary and a different kind of person to deal with.” But it wasn’t until a year out from the Sydney Olympics that she felt her sporting and legal career had reached a crossroad. “Do I quit my job and be a full-time
26
www.arch.bond.edu.au
athlete or do I juggle the two and risk not doing either well?” she asked herself. “That was really a defining moment for me to consider what I really wanted. To be honest I didn’t want it badly enough to be an athlete and I was not sure that I believed in my raw talent to be able to do it.” While de Jong gave up her dream of Olympic glory, she says her passion for sport never waned. “I had this underlying part of me that was an athlete and understood what it was to be an athlete, and I had this duality of corporate life,” she says. “I never anticipated that the two would combine.”
There were many days when I would train for six hours, study for six hours and sleep for six hours, so it was pretty full on.
De Jong says that in law she was always committed to doing the best job possible. “But I felt I would rather invest my time and effort into something I am interested in, and it took me a good year to figure out what that was.” De Jong says she started volunteering with local sporting associations to pursue that philosophy. To her surprise she found that professional skills, such as project management that she developed in her legal career, adapted well to the sporting world.
De Jong credits her time at Bond with mapping her career path from the very outset. “I never would have pursued that sporting career perhaps had I not had access to such beautiful sporting facilities,” she says.
After meeting with John Coates, the AOC President at the time, a role became available within the Australian Olympic Committee.
“You are a product of all your experiences in life and at Bond I learned very early on the importance of striving for excellence in everything you do.
De Jong's understanding of e-commerce, her project management and legal drafting skills and her athletic background were integral to her role as AOC Director of Sport.
“I think that’s an ethos that’s reflected from the lecturers to the maintenance staff on campus.
“A large part of the role is drafting the selection criteria for athletes going to the Olympic Games,” says de Jong.
“That’s an attribute I’ve brought to any job I have undertaken and that is very much aligned with the Olympic values – by doing it in the spirit of friendship and mutual respect.
“I had been working, in effect, in project management within the financial services industry, and a large part of pulling an Olympic team together does fit into that space.
“I think Bond had that environment of mateship as well, not necessarily winning at all costs. It was small enough that you had that connection with other people that you were in it together.
“It was a nice fit for me and the organisation and, over time, that role has evolved.”
“A unity of purpose is very important to achieving what you wish in life.
De Jong is closing in on her 10th year with the AOC but is currently on six months’ maternity leave after having her first child, Alessandro.
“I remember when I was racing with the Australian team and travelling for world championships overseas, lecturers would give me flexibility around completing an assignments or sitting an exam.
In that time she has worked on six Summer and Winter Olympics, as well as two Youth Olympic Games.
“Their willingness to invest in the individual was formative in helping me to achieve what I was able to achieve.” www.arch.bond.edu.au
27