McMahon and Fearnley will join Chef de Mission Petria Thomas and Commonwealth Games Australia’s team performance general manager Tim Mahon on the Australian team executive for Birmingham 2022.

Dual gold medallist McMahon competed in four Games and was the youngest member of the netball team which won gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. 

Four years later she helped the team defend their title in Manchester, while also winning silver medals at the following Games in Melbourne and Delhi. 

A former national team captain, McMahon was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2016.

"For me, during my career it was a tournament that I always loved, so that will be exciting to be back," she said.

"I hope to help the entire team to have a great experience in terms of performance, but I always loved the feel of the Commonwealth Games so I’m really excited about being part of creating something special for everyone who is involved."

Fearnley retired from international competition with victory in the T54 marathon at Gold Coast 2018, concluding his career as a two-time Commonwealth Games and three-time Paralympic gold medallist.

"I’ve had some amazing Commonwealth Games experiences so I’m looking forward to remaining involved and assisting where I can," he said. 

A nine-time Commonwealth Games swimming gold medallist herself, Thomas will become Australia’s first female Commonwealth Games team Chef de Mission. 

She has served at the past four Games as part of the Australian team headquarters staff and was part of the team executive on the Gold Coast in 2018. 

"Sharelle and Kurt are already great ambassadors for Australian sport and the team in Birmingham will certainly benefit from their leadership," Thomas said.

"They both bring an enormous amount of experience and insight and they are both great Australian champions that our team will greatly benefit from the respect they command within the Australian sporting community is immense and as a collective our team executive can help establish the standards and expectations for the way the team conducts itself."

Commonwealth Games Australia is planning to send one of its largest teams to compete in an away campaign with an expected team size of 425 athletes across 19 sports, including the recently introduced women’s Twenty20 cricket.

The largest team for an away Commonwealth Games is 409 athletes in Glasgow in 2014. 

Australia was represented by 473 athletes on the Gold Coast with the team topping the medal tally with 80 gold, 59 silver and 59 bronze medals.