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John Coates

August

Nina Kennedy celebrates her win of in the women’s pole vault, to become the first Australian woman to win gold in an athletics field event.

The five charts that show it really was our best Games ever

Australia won 53 medals across 20 different sports. Outgoing IOC vice president John Coates says we can win even more.

  • Zoe Samios

June

Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi.

Meet the man who runs the Olympics

IOC executive director Christophe Dubi loves the Games. He’s about to find out if he’s guaranteed their future.

  • Zoe Samios

April

Can the NRL’s worst team finally turn itself around?

To say the Wests Tigers have underperformed over the past two decades would be an understatement. Shane Richardson has a plan to change the team’s fortunes.

  • Updated
  • Zoe Samios
Graham Quirk, who a taxpayer-funded review venue infrastructure, appears at the Senate inquiry on Wednesday.

Taxpayer review into 2032 Games venues ‘blindsided’

An independent review into 2032 Games venues was supposed to deliver the ‘right’ infrastructure. But Queensland bureaucrats were working on rival plans.

  • Liam Walsh and Michael Bleby

March

Aerial view of The Gabba

Lang Park to host Brisbane 2032 ceremonies after review rejected

Lang Park will be the site of opening and closing ceremonies while the old venue for the 1982 Commonwealth Games will be upgraded to host athletics.

  • Zoe Samios and Michael Bleby
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November 2023

Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan.

Nicola Forrest was onside with Hamish McLennan in St Tropez

The separated wife of Andrew Forrest threw her lot in with the embattled Rugby Australia chairman, fighting an insurrection from state rugby associations.

  • Updated
  • Mark Di Stefano

October 2022

Brisbane Olympics chairman Andrew Liveris.

Andrew Liveris blocks access to his Brisbane Olympics expenses

This is Banana Republic stuff and completely unacceptable in the governance of a major, government-funded body.

  • Joe Aston

May 2022

John Coates bowed out as Australian Olympic Committee president at the Darling Harbour Sofitel in Sydney.

John Coates holds court at last AOC farewell

Governor-General David Hurley led the speeches, comparing Coates to no less than the woman he’s constitutionally bound to represent.

  • Updated
  • Myriam Robin

April 2022

Newly elected AOC president Ian Chesterman.

Ian Chesterman takes over from John Coates as AOC president

The overwhelming support for Mr Chesterman was a vote for continuity, but the election marks a changing of the guard in Australia’s peak Olympic body.

  • Michael Bleby
John Coates.

Brisbane 2032 Olympics needs a CEO from business or government: Coates

Outgoing Olympics supremo stresses importance of the Brisbane boss having a global perspective in putting on the world’s biggest sporting show.

  • Michael Bleby

John Coates has few regrets on his way out the AOC door

Even as he steps down from 32 years in the top job, the knowledge and contacts of Australia’s Olympic supremo will be tapped for years to come.

  • Michael Bleby
Mark Stockwell (left) and Ian Chesterman are battling to replace John Coates as AOC president.

Olympic contenders put up their hands to replace John Coates

The decision will come down to how much the AOC voters think the Olympic body has made sufficient change and how much more they think it needs.

  • Michael Bleby

February 2022

Doing on her own steam, without a program behind her: Jackie Narracott won silver in skeleton at Beijing.

Beijing’s four medals give winter athletes a shot at more funding

While the country has scored its highest-ever Olympic medal tally, the questions about how to allocate money to sports haven’t gone away.

  • Michael Bleby

December 2021

Ian Chesterman is the clear frontrunner to replace John Coates.

Chesterman, Stockwell vie for AOC presidency

The battle to become the next John Coates will be fought out between long-mooted frontrunner Ian Chesterman and Olympic swimmer Mark Stockwell.

  • Myriam Robin
IOC vice president and AOC president John Coates.

Beijing Olympics seals divorce of sport and politics

Those who say sport should keep out of politics had a win with this week’s diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing Games. But the tide may turn again.

  • Michael Bleby and Michael Smith
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July 2021

President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach (right) bumps elbows with AOC president John Coates and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Go for Olympic host city gold - and go for broke too

The Olympic business model means that host cities invariably lose out. Brisbane will need a heroic effort to avoid that fate.

  • Graham Young
Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk are promising the state will break even on Brisbane 2032.

$9b valuation on Brisbane’s Olympic bragging rights

When you’re spending other people’s money, the drive to robust cost-benefit analysis is highly diminished.

  • Myriam Robin
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said an overhauled Gabba will be the centrepiece of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Long lead time to help Brisbane stay on budget for 2032 Olympic Games

Brisbane may have won the right to host the 2032 Olympics, but now the hard work begins to get the city ready in time, and within the $5 billion budget.

  • Mark Ludlow
Close shave: Maria Fazekas of Hungary attends a table tennis training session at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Thursday.

Jostling begins over Brisbane’s 2032 Organising Committee

A day after the Queensland capital’s Olympic win, a public contest over management of the Games is already playing out.

  • Michael Bleby and Mark Ludlow
School students pose for a celebratory photo at an Olympics breakfast event at King George Square on Wednesday ahead of the IOC announcement.

Brisbane, the last one standing in Australia’s Olympic race

Winning the 2032 Games will help drive south-east Queensland’s economy for the next decade and help the tourism industry recover from the pandemic.

  • Mark Ludlow, Michael Bleby and Liam Walsh

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/person/john-coates-3ng