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Rio Olympics 2016: Flagbearer Brennan says give athletes a break

Kim Brennan celebrates with her gold medal.

Kim Brennan celebrates with her gold medal. Photo: Getty

Australia’s closing ceremony flagbearer Kim Brennan says Olympic success shouldn’t be defined only by the medal tally.

The three-time Olympian, who won the women’s single-scull final to claim her third medal, was on Sunday (local time) named flagbearer for the ceremony that officially marks the end of the 31st Olympiad.

“I’ve been watching a lot of other competitors and just the pride that the whole team has had wearing the green and gold, to be able to lead them into the closing ceremony is incredibly special,” Brennan penned in an opinion piece for Fairfax Media.

A lawyer and chair of the Australian Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission, Brennan used the flagbearer announcement to defend her teammates, who produced the lowest medal haul at an Olympics since 1992.

Australia's Kimberley Brennan won one of Australia's eight golds. Photo: Getty

Australia’s Kimberley Brennan won one of Australia’s eight golds. Photo: Getty

She said that terms like “failure” didn’t accurately reflect what had gone into a performance.

Brennan said the Australian public were brilliant at celebrating success, but treated athletes who didn’t match expectations harshly.

“We’ve forgotten that the rest of the world also strives for these successes, so when the result isn’t a gold we sometimes forget that someone terribly deserving has actually won that gold,” the 31-year-old said.

“We should be proud of our athletes for putting our best foot forward even though they may not have been first across the line.”

She said that Australia could learn from hosts Brazil in the way they celebrated their athletes.

Brennan said she watched the response from the Brazilians when one of their canoeists won a silver medal.

“The crowd was beyond ecstasy, and it was a really special reminder that success can be any number of things,” she said.

“There are people on this Australian team who haven’t achieved medals and may not have made finals but it’s still been a success and I think that remembering that there’s more than medals.

“It’s about teaching the qualities that we really want to bring like determination, persistence, and working in a team.”

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