Gold Coast
Jesse Korf is Executive General Manager of Performance at AusCycling, leading Australia's Olympic and Paralympic cycling programs across six disciplines toward LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032. Since 2021, he has overseen a growing team of 85+ performance staff covering elite competition, pathway development, and performance architecture across BMX, BMX Freestyle, Mountain Bike, Para-Cycling, Road, and Track. Under his leadership, the Australian Cycling Team delivered the nation's second-best combined Olympic and Paralympic Games performance in history at Paris 2024, and achieved the world's highest combined elite World Championship gold medal count and total medals across three consecutive years, reversing five consecutive cycles of Olympic and Paralympic decline. Korf holds a PhD in Kinesiology from York University and an MSc in International Sports Management from the Johan Cruyff Institute Amsterdam. His research focuses on expertise development, performance system design, and talent identification across elite sport. He serves on the Innovation Committee of the West Coast Eagles AFL club and contributes to Australian Institute of Sport strategy for Brisbane 2032. His career spans high performance roles across cycling, basketball, and speed skating in the Netherlands, Canada, the United States, and Australia, with a consistent focus on building systems that produce sustained competitive excellence across Olympic cycles rather than individual Games results. He is a co-author of peer-reviewed work and guest lectures at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has twice been an invited panelist at its Sports Summit, in 2023 and 2024, a forum for performance and executive leaders from across professional and Olympic sport. He speaks and writes on high performance, talent development, and building the systems that turn long-term preparation into results.
Executive leadership of Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic high-performance cycling system across all disciplines and pathways. Lead national performance strategy, planning, and delivery across Olympic, Paralympic, Commonwealth, and non-Olympic programs Responsible for long-term system design and performance horizon planning through Paris 2024, Los Angeles 2028, and Brisbane 2032 Oversight of a large, multidisciplinary performance organisation spanning coaching, sport science, medicine, data & insights, operations, and innovation, with teams distributed across Australia and Europe Led major organisational transformation across structure, systems, governance, and performance culture Established national Centres of Excellence and strengthened integration across pathways, national teams, and daily training environments Built data-informed and athlete-centred performance systems to support sustained international success rather than single-cycle outcomes Regular engagement with boards, government partners, senior stakeholders, athletes, and staff on strategy, investment, risk, and performance outcomes Delivered Australia’s strongest Olympic and Paralympic cycling results in recent history while materially strengthening long-term system capability.
Provided executive continuity and leadership during a period of organisational transition. Maintained delivery of national high-performance programs while stabilising teams, systems, and decision-making Supported transition to a redesigned performance structure and longer-term strategic reset Worked closely with senior stakeholders at AusCycling and the AIS to ensure continuity of performance outcomes and organisational confidence
National leadership role focused on building sustainable pathways from junior levels to Olympic podium performance. Led national pathway strategy across all cycling and para-cycling disciplines Member of the organisational strategy development team, contributing to long-term performance planning and system reform Oversight of performance analytics capability to support evidence-based decision-making Led high-performance coach development and education initiatives Managed national talent identification and development programs, including externally funded initiatives Extensive stakeholder engagement across provincial organisations, institutes, universities, professional teams, and sponsors
Founded and led a performance and sport-management consultancy operating across elite sport, professional teams, and public institutions. Strength and conditioning and physiology support for a professional speed skating team Head coach of professional men’s and women’s basketball teams, including multiple national championships Advisory work with national sport organisations, federations, and city councils on performance, governance, and sport systems Early exposure to managing staff, clients, budgets, and stakeholder expectations across multiple environments