With her third Olympic Games now just weeks away, Jess Stenson knows it takes a village to be word’s best, which is why she is loving Australian sport’s united commitment to ensuring athletes win well both in sport and life.

Stenson booked her ticket to Paris after smashing both her previous personal best and the Olympic qualifying time at the Daegu Marathon in Korea in April, with the race occurring just six months after the birth of her second child.

Stenson said the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI) not only looked after her as an athlete for the race, but as a person as well.

“In the lead up to the Daegu marathon being a breastfeeding mum I was obviously going to be taking Ellie with me and SASI identified that that would come at an extra financial cost,” Stenson said.

“SASI said, ‘we'd love to support you with those expenses’, which really took the pressure off when I was booking flights and accommodation and those things. Just to feel the backing of SASI was really valuable.

“It’s probably my proudest achievement, running a personal best with two kids and just that family juggle. It was a huge team result and I'm just so thankful for everyone who's been involved and who believed in it being possible.”

SASI is one of the 51 organisations, including the Australian Institute of Sport and Australian Sports Commission, who have pledged to win well as part of the Australian High Performance 2032+ Sport Strategy - sport’s roadmap to sustainable success in the leadup to the Brisbane 2032+ Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond.

Stenson said she couldn’t agree more with the idea that an athlete’s wellbeing is the foundation to reaching their full potential in sport and in life.

“Winning well on and off the sporting arena I think is so important and has become a bigger topic,” she said.

“I think previously there was this mindset that you've just got to go all in with your sport and now there's this acknowledgement that what you do off the sporting track or field develops you as a whole person and can actually improve performance because it takes a little bit of that pressure away. So, I think it's fantastic and it's setting up athletes to have more fulfilling lives in the long term.”

Stenson, as well as her fellow Australian marathon-mums Sinead Diver, Gen Gregson will close out the games when they compete on Sunday 11 August.

To learn about what win well means to two other mums competing in Paris, why not listen to the AIS Win Well Podcast episode with Olympian Alyce Wood and Paralympian Vanessa Low.