Her first thought: “What is going on?”

A quick look out her living room window in downtown San Chaung in Yangon revealed a seemingly endless line of people snaking down the street, desperate to use the ATM at the bank on the ground floor of her apartment block.

Overnight, the Tatmadaw military had ousted the democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, her home away from home, and the former water polo player was faced with living and working in a totally different world.

As manager of the Fund Director’s Office and Communications Unit for the Access to Health Fund at the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Taniele has spent six years helping the UN and its partner organisations provide better healthcare for the 54 million people of Myanmar.

She and her Danish partner Lasse Bach Andersen, who also works for the UN in health, are driven by a purpose to support the people in the country they call home.

Democracy had been the hope for the nation, formerly known as Burma, after gaining independence from Britain in 1948 and returning to civilian rule in 2011 after 49 years of military governance.

But all that came crashing down overnight.

“There had been rumblings on the Friday about a coup, but some people had said, ‘Oh, you know, well, it won't happen’,” said the Sydney-born water polo centre forward who competed at the 2008 Beijing Games.

 “Then, on the Monday morning we wake up in our apartment and we don't have any internet, no WI-FI, mobile data, we are stunned and thought what's going on?

“Our landlord was the first to tell us about the coup, we didn't really know what this meant for us or the country. I hadn't realized at that point that the rest of the world would also know about it. When I was able to get online hours later, I received a frantic SMS from my mum. Thankfully, we were able to tell her that we were OK."

The days and weeks that followed saw Myanmar flashed onto every news bulletin around the world as mass protests demanded an end to military rule and the release of the detained elected leaders.

The military met the dissenters with a brutal show of force using flash grenades, batons, rubber bullets and tear gas which resulted in many injuries and deaths. More than 800 people have been killed by security forces in the protests so far, according to the UN Human Rights Office, although other reports put the figure much higher.

Dozens of countries have condemned the violence in Myanmar, though this has been largely ignored by the coup leaders.

The most poignant moment of the protests for Taniele was the death of 19-year-old woman  Kyal Sin, known as Angel, who was wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Everything will be OK" when she was shot in the head and killed by the army.

“Our apartment was on the main street, so we could see the protests moving down the road,,” Taniele said.

“In the beginning it was very upbeat, people were marching with funny slogans; they were defiant but positive.

“Every night at 8pm they’d bang pots and pans to drive the evil spirits out of their houses, a Myanmar tradition.

“There were a few weeks of this where it's tense, especially in the evenings, but it was the people saying: ‘No way, we're not going to live under this.'

“There was a feeling of chance and hope that they could turn it around. But at the end of February is when they started killing people. I’ll never forget the first young woman they killed.

“Now every night on streets, there are local men and women who stand watch to protect their families and their communities.

“Our whole street had homemade barricades to try and stop the military driving through, it looked like a war zone. I feel so devastated for the people.”

Taniele said the words of a local friend and young mother, educated in Australia but returned home to Myanmar to use her skills to better her birth nation, best summed up the feeling most of the local population have when she said the military had “stolen her children’s future."

The impact of the coup has only inspired Taniele to continue her very valuable work with the UNOPS.

She plays a strategic role in the Fund Office working with donor nations – UK, USA, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada and Australia – to provide better health opportunities for the people of Myanmar.

The US$250 million fund focuses on maternal health, HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, COVID-19 and equitable health services for the LGBT community.

Providing a truly inclusive healthcare service is one Taniele’s passion projects to ensure people within the LGBT community are given the same opportunities as others through a more holistic approach to healthcare.

“We essentially pool the money from the donors then look to see where we can strengthen the health system in Myanmar, through different implementing partners,” she said.

“We work with non-government organizations, civil society organisations, women's organizations, disability rights organisations, working primarily in healthcare.

“Our primary focus is on conflict impacted areas, which is perhaps more areas of Myanmar than people realise; the border areas and remote areas where health needs are not met.

“It can be quite challenging because it's a very complicated country. And then, of course, became even more so with the coup.”

The collapse of the national health system due to the coup has added much complexity to her role and the way Myanmar provides medical services, amplified only by the onslaught of a third and very deadly wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With poor access to vaccine, and the lack of a national health system to roll out a program, the country has the unenviable title of being one of the lowest vaccinated countries in southeast Asia with less than 10 per cent of the population double jabbed.

“It felt like everyone was literally screaming for oxygen,” Taniele said.

“It was difficult to witness and to feel so powerless; it was very hard to get supplies into the country because the government health system, the ports, everything, had collapsed.

“We're seeing a depreciation of the currency, which is leading to even more challenges and people falling into poverty; it’s a sad and devastating situation.

“The people had been on this great path towards democracy, there were bumps along the road, but they were making progress and, now it is a crisis. It's very, very difficult to witness.”

COVID-19 hasn’t been the only area of health impacted. Taniele said simple services like maternal health have been impacted as doctors and other health workers strike in protest of the new regime.

But she adds, out of great adversity, come moments of sheer inspiration.

“It was difficult to witness and to feel so powerless; it was very hard to get supplies into the country because the government health system, the ports, everything, had collapsed.

“We're seeing a depreciation of the currency, which is leading to even more challenges and people falling into poverty; it’s a sad and devastating situation.

“The people had been on this great path towards democracy, there were bumps along the road, but they were making progress and, now it is a crisis. It's very, very difficult to witness.”

COVID-19 hasn’t been the only area of health impacted. Taniele said simple services like maternal health have been impacted as doctors and other health workers strike in protest of the new regime.

But she adds, out of great adversity, come moments of sheer inspiration.

“Incredible people are putting their own safety at risk to help others,” Taniele said.

“I made a trip recently to a maternity clinic that a retired gynaecologist was running because she knew there was nowhere for women to deliver babies.

“She set up the clinic in an unused medical training centre, gathered a group of retired doctors and got the word out there was a place women could go to have their babies. Then they started asking around for equipment they needed to keep premature babies alive; when I visited there were five premature babies there.

“These people are risking their lives, but they know women need a place to give birth. Their attitude is: we're going to provide that place. There are many stories like that, of people opening clinics in their own living room, just to help those in need.”

So how does a girl educated at MLC School, Burwood, with an Olympic bronze medal and a communications degree from Sydney University end up working with the United Nations in Myanmar?

The answer is simple: the Beijing Olympics and a chance meeting with one of our nation’s cricket heroes.

A conversation in the Olympic village with Steve Waugh, who held the role of athlete liaison officer alongside former Wallaby captain John Eales and Olympic swimming champion Susie O’Neill at the 2008 Games, helped Taniele find her post-sporting trajectory.

Sport had consumed her formative years, swimming training every morning alongside her three sisters as a schoolgirl before taking up water polo and playing at an elite level for the Sydney University Lions, NSW Institute of Sport and the Stingers.

Talent runs in the family with younger sister Keesja following in her footsteps to compete in water polo at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, while older sister Allira played handball for Australia.

Taniele attributes all four siblings’ life achievements, sister Chivonne studied opera at university, to the lessons her parents Arlene and Tao taught them about commitment, drive and the importance of doing what you love most.

But it was Waugh’s offer to volunteer at the Udayan Children’s Home in Kolkata, India which saw her transition from Olympic athlete to philanthropic advocate.

“I loved being an athlete, but as an athlete you are very committed to yourself,” Taniele said, who went to India at age 24 after completing her bachelor’s degree and a masters in sociology.

“I felt very insular; like I hadn't turned outward for a while which is very normal. I don't think it's an indictment of athletes - you must be that way to succeed.

“But it wasn’t what I wanted. I knew there was a lot of injustice in the world, and I wanted to see where I could help.”

The path to Taniele’s present role with the UNOPS has been more like the sport she loves - tactical, physically draining at times and underpinned by relentless commitment.

One of her key learnings was the importance of bringing value to a position to enhance her ability to help vulnerable local people create their own futures.

On return from India, she sought to increase her skills before taking a secondment to Ghana as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development.

A chance meeting with her partner Lasse, while supporting her sister at a handball competition in Argentina, led her to a position in the UNOPS headquarters in Copenhagen before moving to Myanmar.

While her life could be likened to the sporty-spice version of Hollywood super star Angelina Jolie’s, Taniele has some sound advice for athletes who are considering or embarking on retirement from elite competition.

“It’s OK to be a little bit lost for a little while,” she said of the transition out of sport.

“Don't be too hard on yourself. It’s OK to feel rudderless when you stop.

“There isn't a need to rush into something, give yourself some time, figure out what you enjoy.

“I also don’t think purpose needs to come from employment, you can find it in other things like a relationship, hobby or volunteering. We don’t need to value ourselves through our work; some people will love their jobs, others won’t, and that is OK.”

In fact, it is the people she has met along the way that have had the greatest impact on Taniele.

In Ghana, working as a youth ambassador, she met Nana Oye Lithur, the nation’s social justice minister, and a woman who continues to inspire the Australian’s leadership and social rights advocacy.

“I loved working in Ghana, it was such a vibrant place and my boss at the Human Rights Advocacy Centre is the most incredible person I've ever met in my life,” she said.

“Nana fought injustice in her personal life, but also in a professional life, and was one of the most prominent      advocates in Ghana to be pro LGBT rights.

“She received hate mail, could be in a war of words and then turn around and laugh with those same people. She brushed it all off saying ‘If not me, then who else is going to stand up for other people.'

“Nana is incredibly passionate about what she believes in, but she never forgot the people she was arguing with weren't terrible people, they just believe things that are different to her. I want to be more like that.”

Today, while the thought of donning her togs, water polo cap and basking in Olympic glory is far from Taniele’s mind, she does embrace the spirit of the Games in all she does, particularly that feeling of pride when her team achieves great milestones amid adversity.

“I don't think you could have told me in that moment standing on the podium in Beijing that our medal wasn't gold,” she laughed remembering the Stingers’ epic one-goal victory over European powerhouse Hungary.

“I felt like it was gold. It was pure ecstasy and real love for my teammates. The thought we could do this together; I was so proud.

“I don't talk much about my Olympic experience to be honest. There are things I've learned, and I've taken from sport, but it feels like a long time ago; it feels like a different life.

“Today in my role with the UNOPS when I see that a partner has improved on how they put in place the mechanisms to support the people, I feel like that's something that I have advocated for, and I've driven forward, I’m really proud of that.”

Taniele feels fortunate to be living and working in Myanmar, and for the transition she made from Olympian to human rights advocate.

“I feel like my whole life has been a series of lucky breaks,” she said.

“There's so much I want to do and achieve; the work is never done really.

“I really love my job. It is meaningful and it feels great to be part of something that is practical, providing health services for people on the ground in a country which is amid a crisis.

“I feel very proud of my colleagues for everything that they were able to do during the coup; they kept health services going without a public health system which is remarkable.”

Catriona Dixon

Everyday Taniele Gofers, Sam Fricker and Tracey Freeman live by the motto: Faster, Higher, Stronger - together. They are building their profiles beyond the sporting arena into some of the most impactful pursuits on the planet.

They are three Olympians with three very different life trajectories, but one thing links them together, the Olympic spirit.

As athletes they inspired many by wearing the green and gold on the biggest stage on Earth, the Olympic Games, and now they are taking others on the journey with them as they continue to lead intelligence and passion.

First and foremost they are athletes, they are Olympians, but much like their athletics achievements they continue to strive to do better - to achieve beyond what most think is possible.