Sport is, at its heart, all about community. 

A vehicle to foster a sense of belonging. Inclusion. Togetherness.

As rising Australian track cyclist Kalinda Robinson knows, for some people, that aspect of sport that so many people take for granted is still not available to everyone. 

But unlike many, the 21-year-old from Bathurst is doing something about it.

Last month, Robinson applied for and was successful in being named one of 25 IOC (International Olympic Committee) Young Leaders from a pool of 5,000 applicants — making the decision to apply at the last minute after seeing an advert online.

“I enjoy the making a difference,” Robinson told ABC Sport in Brisbane.

“I can see myself always wanting to be involved in sport — not just as an athlete — and this was a perfect way to be able to be involved in more than an Australia level, to be involved internationally. 

“And with the IOC? That’s pretty cool.”

The IOC Young Leaders programme was inaugurated in 2016 and challenges people to use power of sport to make a positive difference in their communities. 

Every two years, 25 Young Leaders are selected for a four year period, and are given support — financial and through mentoring — to enact initiatives.

According to the IOC, over 140 initiatives have been delivered through the program so far, benefiting over 30,000 participants across the globe.

Robinson is not the first Aussie to be selected, with Jemima Montag and Grace Hull have also been involved in the past.

Hull, a former representative swimmer, championed her initiative, Safe 4 Sport, providing accessible and inclusive safeguarding education to Western Australian sporting organisations in a bid to reduce premature sport dropout rates.

Meanwhile, two-time Paris 2024 medallist Montag founded Play On, an initiative that gives adolescent girls the knowledge and skills they need to overcome the common obstacles to engaging in sport across Victoria.

Robinson, a podium prospect who won the Oceania elite team sprint title in 2024 and a bronze medal in the same event last month, does not know exactly what shape her project will take yet, but knows that she wants to help the inclusion of the LGBTQI+ community in both elite and community sport.

“I have pitched on a focus on diversity and inclusion … I have four years, so it will definitely evolve over time,” she said.

Constant evolution is nothing new for Robinson.

The 21-year-old grew up in the New South Wales country town of Bathurst, before moving to Adelaide and now Brisbane to pursue her career on the pine of the nation’s velodromes.

Robinson has said previously that the country wasn’t always an easy place to be a member of the LGBTQI+ community, but the challenges she faced are not uncommon anywhere.

“I think there were definitely limited role models to look up to [in the country], but I think you see that everywhere, even in the cities,” Robinson said.

“It’s definitely better now, seeing more people being able to be themselves and be that representation for other people,

“But I think there’s still a long way to go, especially in sport.

“I am looking to involve more of the community rather than just athletes.

“In [AIS initiative] Thrive with Pride, we’re focusing on improving inclusion and diversity in the elite athlete space, but I’m hoping to be able to broaden that and include more people.”

Robinson noted that it was a pivotal time for sport in Australia, with Olympic Games hosting duties looming for Brisbane in 2032.

The key legacy of any Games — however problematic most Games cities find achieving it is — is ongoing and increased participation.

By including a section of society that has not traditionally felt welcomed in sport, Robinson said it will only improve the legacy of hosting the Games.

“With Brisbane 2032 coming up, we want our nation to be more involved in sport,” Robinson said.

“So if we want to include everyone in that and make everyone feel more seen and heard and have a space for everyone, that’s what I’m going into this thinking.”

Having a space where everyone can feel comfortable — no matter what their sexual orientation is — is crucial to en elite environment as much as in community sport.

“I think it’s really beautiful when you do have a space that is inclusive, where everyone can be themselves, because you see more people being attracted by that kind of environment,” Robinson said.

“I think we see that with AFLW and the Matildas, that’s definitely something that, from the outside looking in, it looks like a pretty cool space where all different types of people can be involved.

“I think it can be challenging for anyone, whether you’re part of the community or you just feel out of place in any sort of environment or workspace that you’re going into.

“If you feel a bit out of place and you don’t feel like you’re like everyone else, it feels a bit odd. You can feel a bit left out.

“But then imagine thinking about a space where you do feel included and you can be yourself and you don’t have to hold anything back, that’s where you wanna be so that’s, ideally, what we want every space to be like.”

Although the goal would be to have a space where everyone feels welcome, Robinson argues that it is also important to recognise that some of the journeys taken by LGBTQI+ people to become comfortable in themselves is worth celebrating.

“I think it’s natural for people to want to find community,” Robinson said.

“Everyone is different and brings different experiences, and it’s really special to be able to connect with people who have a similar experience to you. So having those spaces where we can bring people together who have similar experience or they can connect on is really important.

“It [people’s sexuality] shouldn’t matter in that it shouldn’t be an issue, but also it does matter and it should be recognised that it is something that’s out of the norm … a lot of people go through a lot of stuff to be able to get to the place where they can be themselves and having other people acknowledge that is important, I think.

“It’s individual preference as to whether you want to talk about it, but having a space where you can talk about it if you want is important.

“Everyone in the world just wants to be seen and heard and so just having that space to be able to talk about it, if you want to, is what we want.”

Robinson backs her self-confidence in being key to finding comfort in any environment: “I know who I am and if people say something, I’m not going to be knocked, because I know who I am and if you don’t like it, that’s your problem and something you’re going to have to deal with yourself,” she said.

But Robinson pointed out that if someone is slightly less secure, it can be more difficult for them to handle criticism, especially in environments that have traditionally been more hostile.

“I think there’s definitely a barrier there for men,” Robinson said. 

“Each sport is different too, each sport has its own challenges, but overall there is a disconnect I think.

“Sometimes I think, and this is just my opinion, but I wonder whether the reason we don’t see gay men in sports isn’t because they’re in there and haven’t come out, but because they’re not there in the first place.

“Because they don’t feel… they just know that it’s not going to be a place where they feel safe and so they’re just not going to bother going through that, so they’ll pull out of sport younger and go and do something else where they do feel safe.

“I think that’s something that should be on people’s minds and that’s why we need to bring it back to grassroots and making these community spaces safer.

“That way we do have these people coming up rather than just pulling out.

“And it’s the same for women to an extent, although I personally do find that it’s a safer space for women to be themselves, but it is still applicable. 

“If I had seen the Matildas at a younger age… you never know. It’s amazing to see the role models they’ve got. 

“You can’t force people to be the representation, but sometimes it’s just not there because they haven’t come through, because they haven’t got the representation in the first place.”