MBA Students To Watch Go For Gold In Tokyo Olympics

Alyce Wood competing at the Canoe Federation World Championships, Szeged, Hungary.

A number of Australian MBA students will be in action at the Tokyo Olympics doing both their country and business school proud.

Olympians Jess Fox and Alyce Wood are students of the Griffith MBA program and will represent Australia when the Games officially begin on Friday July 23.

Jess will compete on two fronts at her third Olympics when she aims to add to the silver and bronze medals she won at London and Rio.

Along with the K1 (kayak), Jess will also race in the C1 (canoe) event which debuts for female athletes at the Tokyo Games.

Alyce will again compete in the K1 500 sprint in Tokyo after her successful 2020 qualification was upheld for the rescheduled Games.

Fellow Griffith MBA student Elise Kellond-Knight will represent Australia in football where the left-footed set piece specialist could play a key role in the team’s medal hopes.

Meanwhile, Bond University MBA student Alexander Graham will make his Olympic debut after an impressive run of form.

In 2019, Alex competed at his first World Championships in Gwagju where he walked away with three podium finishes. As a member of the 4x200m freestyle relay team, Alex claimed the gold medal and set a new Commonwealth record in the process. He also won silver in the 4x100m mixed freestyle relay and bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

Alyce was drawn to the MBA as the Rio Olympics loomed into view for her in 2016.

“I knew I wanted to keep paddling after that, and I knew I wanted to do some more learning and further myself in that way,” the 28-year-old said.

“It’s really opened my eyes to the sporting world. Business and high-performance sport go hand in hand,” Alyce said.

“You have to perform at such a high level, and you have to think outside the box and challenge yourself.

“I’d love to move into something like sports governance or policymaking once I finish being an athlete.”

Doug Estwick
Doug is an author for MBA News and Fixed Income News Australia. Doug has been a media and communications professional for more than 10 years, including working as an editor for News Corp's Quest Newspaper group.