Brisbane-based Rachel Condos-Fields has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the King's Birthday Honours, recognised for her decades of service to youth and community both in Australia and abroad
Rachel Condos-Fields comes from a remarkable Greek heritage. Her great-great-grandfather, Captain Demetrios Condos, was a sponge diver from the island of Symi who discovered the ancient Antikythera shipwreck, yielding the famous Youth of Antikythera and the extraordinary Antikythera Mechanism, now housed in the Athens Museum.
A statue of Captain Demetrios was erected in the harbour of Symi earlier this year.Her yiayia and papou migrated to Australia from Cairo in the 1950s, settling in Footscray, Melbourne.
At the age of 17, she travelled to Nepal with World Youth International to help build a school in the Kathmandu Valley village of Gokarna.
She started with 20 students, and over 27 years, the school has grown to 800 students, now complemented by an internationally accredited IT college.
A boarding centre in Nepal was named in her honour in 2022.
In 2022, she founded WattleNest, an organisation that bridges the gap between elite athletes and corporate Australia, helping talented sportspeople access the financial support they need to represent their country, creating mutual value rather than relying on charity.
In 2024, she received the Global Women Changing the World Award in London and was named in News Corp Australia's Top 100 Power List of Most Influential Women in Australian Sport.
Speaking to SBS Greek, Condos-Fields dedicated her OAM to her late yiayia.
"Her example taught me that success is not measured by what we achieve for ourselves, but by the difference we make in the lives of others," she said. "This one is for her."
Her message to younger generations was simple:
"What have you done today that you can be proud of? There are opportunities all around us, every day, to do something for someone who needs a helping hand."
