IOC vice-president John Coates talks Russian doping, future venues, new sports and Kitty Chiller

EXCLUSIVE: John Coates has declared he has no interest in supporting a satellite Olympic model which would see underdeveloped cities like Rio be eliminated from ever hosting the Games.

IOC vice-president John Coates has given Rio’s hosting rights a thumbs up

JOHN Coates has given Brazil the thumbs up, declaring he has no interest in supporting a satellite Olympic model which would see underdeveloped and ill-prepared cities like Rio de Janeiro be eliminated from ever hosting the Games.

In Brazil to witness the next 16-days of world-class sporting action, the IOC vice-president also admitted in his only one-on-one interview of the Games that he couldn’t guarantee Russia’s competing athletes were clean.

Coates also opened up on his support for AOC chef de mission Kitty Chiller, why the Australian swim team carries the hopes of a nation and how the Olympic movement can thrive by the inclusion of surfing and skateboarding in 2020.

IOC vice-president John Coates has given Rio’s hosting rights a thumbs up

NO REGRETS

Despite being overcome by security fears, unfinished venues, poor water quality and a city gripped by crime and corruption, Rio, for the next fortnight, will be the centre of the sporting universe.

But how the city ever secured the Games, is the question being asked by the world’s media. It has led to suggestions that as many as five countries should be part of a rotation-policy to host the Olympics.

However, Coates ruled out the notion.

“When I was chef de mission in 1984 in Los Angeles, then in Atlanta there were places that the athletes were told absolutely not to go,’’ Coates said.

“We also had security people come and speak to them before we moved into Athens.

“There’s been rough places before, we’ve survived that.

“There’s a lot of people who live in Favelas and the Olympics wasn’t going to change it.

“There’s a big city here, but the Olympics can’t solve those massive socio-economic problems.

“If we kept going back to the same cities, we wouldn’t be developing sport in many parts of the world.

“The special thing about the Olympics is the opportunity for the host nation to put its stamp on things as we did in Sydney.’’

RUSSIA’S DOPES

Coates can’t guarantee that Russia’s competing athletes are clean

Russia are the black-eye of the Games with every ‘clean’ athlete allowed to compete doing so under heavy scrutiny and doubt.

A member of the IOC board, Coates conceded the Olympic movement was in danger of being tarnished if positive samples were to ever emerge from Russia’s current 271 member team.

“From a team of 389 they’re down to 271,’’ Coates said.

“On that basis, as far as we can tell, those athletes are at this point in time clean.

“We also test every athlete from Russia each week, rather than just before the competition starts.

“So they’re subject to more testing than the rest.

“I can’t guarantee against it, that’s why we’re keeping the samples.

“You generally get 14 to 15 positives at the games. The testing has come a long way since London so it might be more or, it might be they in fact be scared off and behaving themselves.”

KITTY CHILLER

Coates has thrown his full support behind Kitty Chiller and her stance on Nick Kyrgios

Chiller has polarised the country in the wake of her public feud with tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios on social media, while her willingness to interact with the athletes, media and team officials has also divided opinion.

“I’ve got to say, I’m very happy with her performance,’’ Coates said.

“She’s really developed ‘one team’ by getting around to all the sports in Australia. It was easy for me, I’d been in every team since 1976 and I got to know them, but Kitty had to get around to see them.

“I made sure she knew she had my full support on the Kyrgios matter. I didn’t put my arm around her, I just said keep doing what you’re doing.’’

GREEN AND GOLD

The IOC vice-president is expecting plenty of success from Australia’s swim team

A former schoolboy rower, Coates would love nothing more to see a swag of gold medals on the flat water course of Lagoa in Rio.

But in order to surpass the 35 medals secured in London, he knows it’s in the pool where success needs to be delivered.

“I hope that we can medal in 11-plus sports,’’ Coates said.

“If you look at Great Britain they’re medalling in 14 or 15, Germany 15 or 16, France, 14.

“In swimming, we’ve got eight number ones in the world at the moment, so one would expect they’re going to do better than 10 medals.

“That will really determine how we go overall.’’

SURF’S UP

Coates pushed for the inclusion of surfing and skateboarding in the 2020 Olympics

Five new sports, including surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, karate and baseball/softball will join the Olympic movement in 2020.

As the chair for the IOC organising committee for Tokyo, Coates celebrated the announcement saying the five new sports inclusion were critical to attracting a new generation of athletes.

“We need to be engaging with the youth,’’ Coates said.

“I certainly drove hard on the two of surfing and skateboarding, both of which are big sports in Australia.

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“There’s a lot of kids who don’t want structured sport, they don’t want to turn up and do as we did and play cricket for four hours.

“They just want to do it in an unstructured way when they feel like doing it. I think we needed to understand that.’’

Originally published as IOC vice-president John Coates talks Russian doping, future venues, new sports and Kitty Chiller