The odds looked stacked against John Coates in battle for AOC presidency but he shouldn’t be underestimated, says Russell Mark

ONE bookmaker has John Coates a clear outsider in the vote to keep his Olympic crown but a Games veteran says there are 360,000 reasons why he should never be underestimated.

ONE bookmaker has John Coates a clear outsider in the vote to keep his Olympic crown but a Games veteran says there are 360,000 reasons why he should never be underestimated.

“Don’t forget that time Alan Jones took on John on his radio show and lost and it cost him several hundred thousand dollars,’’ said former gold medal winning shooter Russell Mark.

“There are not many people who can say they had a win over Alan Jones. John does not lose too many battles. He’s a wily old fox.

“Danni Roche is taking on the toughest man in Australian sport.’’

In 2008 a Supreme Court judge awarded Coates $360,000 in damages after a jury found Jones had implied on air that Coates ordered a cover-up after the Sally Robbins rowing fiasco at the Athens Olympics, bullied the crew and was a poor leader.

AOC president John Coates.

Almost a decade later Coates is back in the ring, not a courtroom but a board room to face 1996 Atlanta hockey gold medallist Roche in a showdown for the Australian Olympic Committee presidency on Friday.

Coates has been under attack in recent times amid accusations his annual AOC package of $729,000 is excessive, his tactics were strongarmed and his media man Mike Tancred displayed bullying tactics in the workplace.

Some important voices such as Dawn Fraser have called for change.

Mark, while feeling Coates has done a fine job, believes it’s time to go.

But some other Olympians such as respected former Australian basketball captain Andrew Gaze feel they know a different man from the one presently under attack and refuse to be swayed by negative publicity.

“I have known John for a long time and I don’t buy into some of the stuff that is being bandied around about him,’’ Gaze said.

“It does not marry up with my understanding of the man. With anyone who has been around 27 years if you dig around you can come up with whatever sort of case you want to present.

“The bottom line is that during that time he has been re-elected by a democratic process. He has not been a dictator who ruled with an iron fist and did not do any good for anyone.’’

Challenger Danni Roche.

The vote is relatively simple but the politics behind it is as complex as a Chinese crossword. With phones ringing hotter than a pizza outlet on State of Origin night, no one seems confident about tipping the winner as votes come from 13 executive members and 33 summer and seven winter Olympic sports.

“As it gets closer public opinion will go towards Danni Roche but it is not a public vote,’’ Mark said.

“If it was Danni would win by miles. A lot of those voters are old school who are mates. John has a lot of mates who are in high places at sporting organisations. Danni may not have been around long enough to have the tentacles which stretch inside these organisations.’’

Mark senses that Roche’s affiliation with Australian Sports Commission’s Winning Edge program which shamelessly funded sports most likely to win a medal at the Games ahead of those less likely to do so will cost her the support of small sports.

“John’s public condemnation of Winning Edge will win him a lot of votes because of a lot of those smaller sports get hardly any funding.’’

No matter who wins the vote one thing is unmistakeable.

The Olympics are not what they were.

There was a time when the Olympics were the illustrious benchmark by which all other sports were measured.

But with never-ending worldwide drug scandals and constant claims of corruption the myth of Olympic purity had long exploded even before the latest round of mud-slinging in Australia.

No matter who wins Friday’s vote it will be a big story but not an earth-quaker – people just don’t care like they used to.

Originally published as The odds looked stacked against John Coates in battle for AOC presidency but he shouldn’t be underestimated, says Russell Mark