What is Chef de Mission? All you need to know about the role and its responsibilities
Chef de Mission or “Head of Mission” is a person appointed to lead and represent a country’s contingent at multi-sport events like the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, and Asian Games.
Chef de Mission handles all the logistics and fulfills the athletes' needs, ensuring everything runs smoothly for their team during the Games, which makes them the head of the country’s contingent.
Former Indian shooter and four-time Olympian Gagan Narang has been appointed India's Chef de Mission for the Paris Olympics 2024 after Mary Kom, the boxing legend, stepped down from the role due to personal reasons.
What are the responsibilities of Chef de Mission?
The major duty of Chef de Mission is to act as the entire contingent’s spokesperson in the run-up to and during the mega event. They represent the nation in official functions, meetings, and ceremonies, handling media inquiries, and representing the team in interviews and public appearances.
Apart from leading the contingent, they directly communicate with the country's Olympic committee to ensure all administrative matters are handled properly. Additionally, they help maintain team spirit and morale when any concerns or conflicts arise.
In short, Chef de Mission is responsible for ensuring that the national contingent is well-prepared, supported, and able to perform at its best during the Games with seamless operations.
India’s past Chefs de Mission
Let’s delve into the details of the recent Chefs de Mission who represented India at different multi-sport events.
Asian Games 2023: Wushu Association of India chief Bhupender Singh Bajwa was appointed Chef de Mission for the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Former IOA president Narinder Dhruv Batra appointed Bajwa while the new IOA chief PT Usha retained his name.
Commonwealth Games 2022: The former IOA senior vice-president Rakesh Anand was picked as India’s Chef de Mission for the Commonwealth Games 2022, held in Birmingham, UK, from July 28 to August 8.
Tokyo Olympics 2020: Biren Prasad Baishya, the former Indian Weightlifting Federation president, was named as India’s Chef de Mission, at the Tokyo Olympics, which took place in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh (Asian Games 2018), former IOA joint secretary Vikram Singh Sisodia (CWG 2018), and another former IOA joint secretary Rakesh Gupta (Rio Olympics 2016) were the previous Chefs de Mission for India.