From the pool to procurement: Olympian embraces team spirit at Suncorp
Competing in the Australian synchronised swimming team at the Rio 2016 Olympics is a moment Cristina will never forget. Cristina has a new routine since joining Suncorp as a Procurement Consultant a year ago, but it is one that requires many of the same skills, including teamwork, structure and integrity.
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Discovering her passion
Cristina was born in Brisbane, but when she was six her family moved to Hong Kong. She attended a local school and learnt to speak fluent Cantonese and Mandarin.
She also tried swimming lessons but found it “boring just doing laps”, so when her friend suggested diving and synchronised swimming, her curiosity was sparked.
“I liked synchronised swimming a lot more. I was 10 years old when I first started and it was so much fun to be a mermaid dancing in the water,” she said.
“I had a background in gymnastics, swimming and dancing so it combined well into one sport.”
Aged 12, Cristina was selected for the Hong Kong Junior National Team and competed in several international events.
Her family moved back to Brisbane when she was 14 and she joined the Gold Coast Mermaids Synchronised Swimming Club.
Cristina continued to compete in national training camps and competitions and at 16 she made the Australian National Team after a rigorous selection process.
Becoming an Olympian
The nine-strong 2016 Olympic team was selected from the Australian National Team at a training camp in Perth.
“We were tested on strength and conditioning, swimming endurance, choreographed routines and technical figures over three days. They then aggregated the points to decide who made the team,” she said.
“When I found out I got selected I was ecstatic that all my hard work had paid off, but also nervous as I knew there was non-stop training ahead.
“We would do on average two hours a day on land then around five to six hours in the water split into two sessions for five days a week.”
The training camps were at various locations, including the Gold Coast, Perth and at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra.
Due to the constant travelling and intense training, she had to complete Grade 12 over two years, but she insists that “it was worth it”.
Resilience in Rio
Aged 17, Cristinia travelled with the team to Brazil for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
She said: “I loved being in an environment with other high-performing athletes from all over the world and the atmosphere was amazing. We even got to meet Simone Biles who was lovely.”
But while they were counting down the days to compete, they were thrown a curveball.
“The pool turned green due to an imbalance of chemicals so we couldn’t practice in the competition pool,” she said.
“But one thing our team leaned into is that we could always find ways to overcome obstacles and mitigate a situation, which helped instil resilience in me.”
While the Australian team missed out on a medal, they scored a personal best and Cristina “couldn’t stop smiling” when they finished their routine.
Back to reality and finding new passions
After returning to Australia and finishing high school, Cristina studied biochemistry at the University of Queensland.
“I really enjoyed learning how things worked but while doing my Honours Project on algae in my fourth year I realised that the isolation of lab work wasn’t for me and that I preferred collaborating with others,” she said.
“I looked for non-scientific jobs requiring a STEM background and I was accepted into a business consulting graduate scheme.”
After Rio, she continued doing synchronised swimming for two years before deciding to retire, as she didn't want to try out for Tokyo 2020.
Still wanting to be involved in team sports, she heard about street roller hockey starting in Brisbane.
She has been part of the grassroots club for the last six years and they play with goals made from milk crates outside Suncorp Stadium on Tuesday evenings.
Another player worked at Suncorp and sent her the advert for a job opening in procurement, which “looked like a really good opportunity”.
Building her future at Suncorp
Cristina joined Suncorp as a Procurement Consultant in August 2024.
“My role focuses on procurement governance and I look after the procurement policy, framework, tools and templates and the content in relation to that,” she said.
“I also support any change communications to the wider procurement team and make sure our procurement processes are compliant and efficient.”
A year on and she is loving her role and the opportunities for growth and upskilling at Suncorp.
“My team is very supportive. My Leader gives people the space to learn and grow. You get a lot of autonomy to identify improvement opportunities,” she said.
“I had only been in my role for a few months and I was able to take a secondment as a Procurement Leader, which was really good for my growth.”
She added: “You can’t really study procurement at university, so we have a real variety of skills and backgrounds in the team, including consultancy, science and engineering.”
Procurement at Suncorp
Procurement is the process of buying goods and services that a business needs to operate.
Suncorp is committed to maintaining a sustainable and responsible supply chain through actively managing environmental, social and governance risks with suppliers providing goods and services to or on behalf of Suncorp.
Visit our Procurement page to find out more.
Cristina also gets involved with Suncorp events and projects outside of her immediate role.
She has joined the Employee Resource Group (ERG) for Suncorp’s Team Zero as a Governance Lead, bringing together a collective passion for the environment and promoting action on climate change.
Teamwork, structure and integrity were all big parts of her sporting career and she has honed these skills further at Suncorp.
Procurement Consultant, Cristina
Structure was important in my training days and procurement governance is all about giving businesses a clear structure to make smart purchasing decisions.
Just like in team sports, at Suncorp we work together for a common goal and are always striving to improve.
“One of Suncorp’s values is always being committed to doing the right thing and that really resonates with me.
“It aligns perfectly with how our team operates, prioritising integrity and ensuring compliance.”
