Shearer brings a wealth of experience to support Team Wales' elite performance prior to and during the next edition of the Commonwealth Games in less than three years' time.

A senior sport psychologist and strategic lead for system building at Sport Wales, she has worked as a practitioner psychologist for 18 years and has provided sport psychology support to more than 20 sports. 

In this time, she has been selected to provide headquarters psychology support at three Paralympic Games and worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team at numerous international competitions.

Shearer was part of the HQ team providing psychology support at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in Indian city Pune and the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, New Delhi and Glasgow respectively.

She was also part of the Swim Wales support team at the preparation camp prior to Gold Coast 2018.

"I’m delighted to be joining Commonwealth Games Wales in this new exciting and vital role for Team Wales ahead of the next Commonwealth Games," Shearer said.

"Behind a successful team and the medal table, there is a deeper story of success and that all comes down to institutes working together, and the correct preparation and support being put in place to ensure our athletes have all they need to be able to produce their best performance."

The main purpose of the new role is to drive and coordinate the delivery of performance support to Team Wales, both prior to and during Birmingham 2022. 

The performance general team manager will work with partners, including Sport Wales' institutes, CGW partner the University of South Wales and National Governing Bodies, to raise support standards in science, medicine and athlete well-being.

Wales produced a record-breaking team for a second consecutive Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast 2018.

The team, made up of around 200 athletes, brought home 36 medals.

The haul was made up of 10 golds, 12 silvers and 14 bronzes.

"We are very pleased to welcome Cath Shearer into the Commonwealth Games team for Birmingham 2022," CGW chief executive Chris Jenkins said.

"Her role as performance GTM is critical in delivering high quality performance support to Team Wales athletes and support staff in the lead up and during the Games.

"With Cath’s knowledge from her successful career and multiple Games experience, we are confident she’ll be a huge asset to the Commonwealth Games family."