Pursuing an eighth Noosa Triathlon title has lifted Ashleigh Gentle off "rock bottom" and helped her overcome the harsh fall-out of a failed Tokyo Olympic campaign.

The 30-year-old will shoot for a seventh-straight Noosa title on Sunday, having won a record seventh overall crown in 2019 before COVID-19 forced the cancellation of last year's edition.

It's no wonder Noosa is the Brisbane-based athlete's happy place and the event has come at a much-needed time after Australia's forgettable Tokyo tilt.

Australia's men finished 16th (Jake Birtwhistle), 24th (Matthew Hauser) and 26th (Aaron Royle) while Emma Jeffcoat (26th) was the only woman to finish as two-time Olympian Gentle and Jaz Hedgeland were lapped out of the race.

Then the Australian mixed relay team - considered a realistic medal shot - finished ninth out of 17 nations.

It was the second-straight Olympics without a medal in the sport which Australia once dominated.

Retired world title winner Emma Carney has been a vocal critic of Triathlon Australia, demanding an independent review over what she deems has been poor governance and athlete mismanagement.

Gentle was completing quarantine at the time of Carney's public criticism and did her best to ignore it.

"It makes me pretty upset; I'm an emotional person and would prefer if these conversations were done off social media," Gentle told AAP at the launch of shoe manufacturer ASICS' Mind Uplifter application on Thursday.

"There was so much negativity after the Olympics and the organisation was put under scrutiny and I got told I was a waste of taxpayer money.

"But that stuff, it doesn't mean anything to me. The people I want to be associated with support me when I won World Series races and Noosa seven times and also when I'm at rock bottom in quarantine after an unsuccessful Tokyo.

"Here at Noosa, there's so much positivity, love, camaraderie; it brings out the best in people.

"What happened in Tokyo was super hard to process and if I didn't have the Noosa Tri I'd still be wallowing in my own pity.

"It's helped me put it in a box, accept it happened and forget the what-ifs."

Those what-ifs include her decision not to race overseas in the lead-up to the Games, with lengthy quarantine periods and a date clash between key events and her vaccination creating logistical nightmares.

"I still felt really prepared and was in a good place, but in hindsight I can think I needed to race more, go overseas and do all that," she said.

"But I made all those decisions with the best information I had at the time.

"I definitely needed more race experience, but at the same time I don't regret what I did, which makes it difficult to deal with."

The program will be reviewed jointly by TA and the AIS, with Sydney 2000 Olympic silver medallist Michellie Jones announced earlier this month as one of nine involved.

Gentle has welcomed that process as normal and necessary.

"There's things to reflect on, no doubt," Gentle said.

"You can't ignore what happened, or pretend it didn't happen, but these reviews happen every year after every major championship."