Following his appointment as Chair of the British Elite Athletes Association, double Olympian Dominic Mahony has laid out his intentions for the years ahead, saying he feels the BEAA “can be the world’s leading athlete representative organisation.”

‍Joining with experience as an elite modern pentathlete; as part of sports governance with the British Olympic Association, Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne and Pentathlon GB; and having co-founded the people development consultancy Lane4, Dominic’s career spans competition, governance and business.

He elaborates: “I was the first ever athlete represented on the board of the international federation [UIPM].

“I feel like I had that experience and I’ve always been interested in the welfare and representation of the athlete voice. So the opportunity to come back to where I started and look at it with fresh eyes and perspective, and also appreciate the different generations of athletes who’ve come through since I was an athlete, seems really interesting.

“I hope now I can bring some of my professional services background and my background in business working in the advisory field to look at: what more? What more could we be doing that would be valued by our members and respected by our stakeholders?”

Dominic’s consultancy Lane4 grew from his experiences as an elite athlete, and is today part of multinational professional services partnership EY.“Lane4 is named after the lane in which the fastest swimmer qualifies for the final in the Olympic Games and where one of our founders, Adrian Moorhouse, won his gold medal in ’88,” Dominic says.

“We talk about the words written above the locker room at the University of California in Berkeley... The words are along the lines of: ‘The aim of this establishment is to make success inevitable.’ So whether you were an athlete in the pool, a coach on the side, a sport science or medicine specialist, or the person swabbing the decks after a training session, everybody in that environment knew what they were there for, bought in to the ultimate goal, and felt they were doing purposeful, meaningful work.

“Improving working lives and creating an environment for individuals, teams, whole organisations who want to and can be able to give their best – that is the essence of what Lane4 was established to do.

“So I hope working with the [BEAA] board and stakeholders, we might explore other areas where athletes would most value services from their membership organisation and work with them to develop those.”

Week to week Dominic’s role will comprise representing the BEAA within the high-performance system, supporting the board and staff on strategy, and using his expertise to continue the organisation’s upward trajectory.

He sees support within elite sport as a progressing area, and recognises the BEAA’s role at the heart of that. “All the hard work that has gone on to date to get the BEAA to where it is, with a really strong, credible voice is the foundation. [I will] help Anna [Watkins, CEO] and the board, and everyone working for the BEAA, to explore how we might develop. I hope we can be the world’s leading athlete representative organisation.

“The BEAA has been on its initial journey to establish its credibility with athletes and with stakeholders and that’s been reflected by the fact UK Sport have said: ‘Yes, what you do is important and valuable work and we need to fund it.’ I think the first step of establishing the voice and credibility of the organisation is the success of all those who’ve gone before us.

“[Support] really has changed a whole lot since I was an athlete and it’s great there is a membership association such as the BEAA who are there to help represent and give voice to athletes.”