Curt Harnett steps in as Canadian Olympic team chef de mission following Jean-Luc Brassard's exit

Just four months ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics, Canada's Olympic team has changed its chef de mission. Former freestyle skier Jean-Luc Brassard, who threatened to quit back in February over the Canadian Olympic Committee's handling of the Marcel Aubut sexual harassment scandal, officially stepped down Monday, with the COC saying he left for "business and personal reasons." He's been replaced by Curt Harnett, who competed in cycling in four Olympics and won three medal (silver in 1984, bronze in 1992, bronze in 1996) and was the chef de mission for Canada at last summer's Pan Am Games in Toronto. Harnett spoke to Eh Game Monday and said his Pan Am experience should help him in this new role.

"The opportunity that we had with Toronto, the lead-up to it, the years that I was there brought me face-to-face with all the athletes and the team behind the team, the mission team, in a very personal way," he said. "So I feel quite comfortable walking into this role having some great relationships there, in an effort to keep this as seamless as possible. I'm really excited. I have such great confidence in the professionals at the Canadian Olympic Committee and their ability to deliver on a team mission, to ensure that our athletes are able to hit the ground running there and focus solely on their task at hand, that's competing and doing their country proud. It is a bit of a quick turnaround time, but I've had some fantastic responses, and it's great to see all the faces, even just coming in here at the COC and all the familiar faces. Everyone is focused 100 per cent on delivering services and all the elements to our athletes come Rio."

Harnett said his key goal is building on what Brassard had done, and after a short research period, he plans to dive in quickly.

"My real thoughts on this are to continue the great work that Jean-Luc was doing and getting myself up to speed on where everything's at, I haven't had the chance to do that yet," he said. "My next week is going to be research-based, and from there, it's just adding value whereever we see fit. Sometimes it's just the upper leadership role and ensuring the team is thinking through everything that they need to think of, letting the athletes know that the team behind the team is there preparing everything to make their experience on the ground high-performance based and ensuring that we deliver on that."

Conditions in Rio ahead of the Games have received plenty of attention, but Harnett said the COC is working hard to make sure everything goes smoothly for Canada's athletes.

"One of the things that I'm quite confident in is that the team's doing anything to ensure that any distraction, any issue; the health and safety of our athletes are number one," he said. "We're there overseeing all of the elements that we can and ticking off all of the boxes, turning over all of the rocks to ensure we've covered off all the distractions out there that could take away from an athlete's performance. I'm not as versed yet, but certainly as a big fan of the Olympic movement I'm aware of what's going on there on the ground, but quite frankly, some things get a bit sensationalized in the media. I've had conversations with the key people here at the COC in the last 48 hours and they feel they've got things well under control with regards to that. And again, I know these people well, so I trust what they tell me. My focus is to continue pushing on those elements. It's just to deliver. Our focus is 100 per cent athletes and coaches and making sure they don't have any impediments to achieving their dreams."

Brassard's February criticisms of the COC's behaviour around the Aubut scandal and in the wake of it made plenty of headlines, but Harnett said he only took this job because he was confident the organization is handling it and working to improve.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't have confidence it was being handled well," he said. "It definitely was a consideration. I certainly can't speak on behalf of Jean-Luc, but it must have been difficult to be in the transition, but ultimately, I've seen where they're going. The great president, Tricia Smith, has continued to push forward the agenda of reform, to make sure all the mechanisms are in place to ensure employee health and safety within the corporate side of things and translate that into the field of play for our athletes and coaches and staffers. It definitely remains a work in progress, you can't solve the whole thing overnight, but I feel really strongly that the organization's going in the right direction.

Here's video of Harnett's introductory press conference Monday, from the CBC:

In that conference, Harnett said he isn't worried about taking over this role at such a late date, thanks to both his experience and the previous work done by Brassard and the rest of the team.

"I'm very confident as to how things are going in Rio and I'm really pumped to be stepping in," he said. "I see this as a seamless transition. Certainly, the athletes and the team behind the team know me quite well, and Jean-Luc is leaving a tremendous legacy with what he's done up until now. I'm certainly looking forward to continuing his vision and making him proud."

Harnett said the preparations done under Brassard went well, giving him a good foundation to build on.

"Quite frankly, a lot of the hard work has already been done, and Jean-Luc led that," he said.

Harnett said he couldn't speak to why Brassard made this decision to step away now, but that he knows he wouldn't make a decision like this without good reasons.

"I hold Jean-Luc in high regard, I've known him for many years, and I know that this would be a decision that he wouldn't take lightly," Harnett said. "He felt that he needed to do that for himself. I don't know much more than that."

Harnett said the COC has faced numerous challenges over the last year with the Aubut saga, but he believes in the organization.

"The organization and the committee itself has obviously seen some trying times, but is doing everything in its power to move forward as well as it can," he said. "I feel comfortable that that's what's happening. I look forward to working with Tricia Smith and the rest of the mission team on the ground. The Canadian Olympic team has best-in-class people on delivery, and I feel based on the brief conversations I've had over the last few days with them, I'm looking forward to getting more details, but I know that team very well, and I know that their ultimate focus will be delivering services to our athletes so we can compete and win against the best athletes in the world."