The 2022 Commonwealth Games get under way in Birmingham on Friday, and for the first time in 20 years, Dan Repacholi isn't part of the Australian team.
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Instead, the four-time Commonwealth pistol shooter is finishing up his first week in federal parliament as the newly-elected Member for Hunter.
Repacholi announced his pivot from sport to politics just weeks after returning from the Tokyo Olympics (his fifth Games appearance) last year.
He was named as Labor's candidate for Hunter following the retirement of veteran MP Joel Fitzgibbon, and won the May election after what he described as an Olympic-style campaign.
"In sport, you work your arse off to get into a position where you're able to compete at the big competitions. The election was the same - we worked our arses off campaigning full-time from the 2nd of January through 'til election day," he said.
"I treated it like an Olympics or a Commonwealth Games - you prepare yourself for that day, then do the best you can do."
Parliament was declared open on Tuesday, with Repacholi among 35 new MPs officially sworn into the House of Representatives.
"It was the most enjoyable first day I've ever had at a job," the 40-year-old former coal miner said.
The first sitting of Parliament runs for a fortnight, but Repacholi will come home to Nulkaba on Friday afternoon for his daughter Asha's seventh birthday, before heading back to Canberra on Sunday.
He's also anticipating a few late nights and early mornings in front of the television to watch the action from Birmingham.
"I'm excited for the Australian team," he said.
"It will be different for me watching from the sidelines. It will be the first time since the 2002 Commonwealth Games that I haven't been in the team.
"I'm looking forward to watching it. I can't wait."
Repacholi made his Commonwealth Games debut in Melbourne in 2006, having competed at his first Olympic Games in Athens two years prior.
He won gold and bronze in pairs events at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, and went on to win individual bronze in the Delhi games in 2010; gold and bronze at Glasgow in 2014, and another gold on the Gold Coast in 2018.
His chosen sport isn't on the program in Birmingham, and Shooting Australia has started a campaign to lobby for its inclusion in the next Commonwealth Games in regional Victoria in 2026.
Repacholi said he has spoken to the Governor-General and Victorian Nationals' Senator Bridget McKenzie (who is the chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Shooting) this week in support of the campaign.
While focused on his new career path and serving the people of Hunter, Repacholi hasn't ruled out a return to the international sporting arena, where Olympic gold still eludes him.
He said he is "in discussions" about the possibility of competing at the Paris Olympics in 2024, which could require a request for a pairing (where one member of the opposition would sit out and abstain from voting in is absence).
If it works out in his favour, Repacholi could possibly be the first Australian federal MP to compete at an Olympic Games while serving.