AOC in crisis: Pressure mounts on embattled Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates
JOHN Coates lashed by business and community figures ahead of an Australian Olympic Committee emergency meeting, as the embattled president’s trusted ally fights to save his job.
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JOHN Coates has been lashed by key business and community figures ahead of an Australian Olympic Committee emergency meeting, as the embattled president’s most trusted ally fights to save his job.
Coates is locked in an increasingly hostile battle to keep his $750,000 a year presidency as pressure mounts ahead of next week’s elections.
Accused of ignoring entrenched bullying, Coates and the AOC leadership were under fire on several fronts yesterday as the crisis deepened.
Businessman Rob Mills blasted Coates for making “unfounded” comments about his company Gemba, while Alannah & Madeline Foundation CEO Lesley Podesta and executive Ann Sherry damned questionable AOC culture.
The extraordinary meeting is to be held by teleconference, from 6pm on Wednesday. Coates was expected to be part of the phone hook-up despite attempts to have him excluded.
Responding to Sherry’s call for AOC leadership change and her “bullying not acceptable and culture the root cause” comment, Podesta tweeted: “Bullying and intimidation has no place in our schools or workplaces. Stand up for respect.”
Challenged for the first time in 27 years, Coates claims he is the victim of a smear campaign as a group of AOC directors push for communications and media manager Mike Tancred to be stood down.
Tancred, a Coates loyalist, is the subject of several bullying claims.
In a letter sent to national sports federations, Coates denies there is a bullying issue at the AOC as he scrambles to stave off gold medallist Danni Roche’s bid for the presidency.
“On the eve of the election for president, there is clearly a co-ordinated and sadly vindictive campaign to damage me personally and tarnish all that has been achieved by the AOC,’’ he said.
Ryan Wells and former AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong have both complained about Tancred, accusing him of intimidation.
Wells claimed Tancred threatened to kill him, while de Jong alleges Tancred said “I will bury you” unless she withdrew her complaint.
AOC directors will today request the stalled investigation into de Jong’s complaint be transferred from an AOC lawyer to an independent investigator.
Former St Kilda president Andrew Plympton and former athletes Nicole Livingstone and Danielle Woodward are pushing for the matter be taken out of AOC hands.
Coates was slammed by Mills for claiming Gemba — a potential contender for AOC sponsorship business — charges 25 per cent in commissions on deals compared with the estimated 12 per cent by the AOC’s in-house operation.
In a statement, Mills said: “Gemba strongly refutes claims made by John Coates that Gemba accepts commissions on sponsorship deals it negotiates.
“Coates’ claims are as inaccurate as they are unfounded.”
Sports Marketing and Management, now owned by Lagardere, has held AOC’s marketing and sponsorship responsibilities since 1986 — when Coates was a founding director and company secretary of SMAM.
Roche vowed to put athletes first to arrest Australia’s Olympic performance slide.
Elected to a (now defunct) position of Honorary Secretary of Australian Amateur Rowing Council (now known as Rowing Australia).
Becomes a member of the AOC
Becomes president of Australian Amateur Rowing Council (now known as Rowing Australia).
Australia’s Deputy Chef De Mission for Los Angeles Games
Becomes vice president of the AOC
Australia’s Chef de Mission at Seoul, Barcelona (’92), Atlanta (’96), Sydney (’00), Athens (’04) and Beijing (’08).
A year after being made a member of the Order of Australia, Coates is voted in a president of the AOC
Council member of the World Rowing Federation (FISA)
Becomes a member of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport
In the same year as becoming an Officer of the Order of Australia, Coates becomes an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)
Senior Vice-President of the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games Sydney in 2000. A year later he becomes a member of the IOC
Coordination for the Games of the XXX Olympiad London 2012
Elected as a member of the executive board of the IOC (until 2013)
Becomes president of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport
Elected vice president of the IOC
Chair of the following Commissions: Coordination for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020
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