By Roy Masters
The Australian Olympic Committee has effectively divorced itself from the Australian Sports Commission following the nation's disappointing results at the Rio Olympics, with president John Coates saying the policy of installing top businessmen as the heads of Olympic sports has failed, together with the Winning Edge strategy of targeting selected sports with special funding.
"I have withdrawn from an ASC-initiated review of the AIS ," Coates said of a think tank set up by ASC chairman John Wylie three months before the Rio Olympics, to reboot the AIS following accusations the Winning Edge program had emasculated the Canberra-based institute by diverting resources to key sports.
"It is up to the board of the ASC to determine the future of Winning Edge," Coates said. "I will concentrate on the activities of the AOC.
"The corporate model of having leaders of Olympic sports who are connected to the top end of town, such as Swimming Australia's John Bertrand and Cycling Australia's Malcolm Speed, has failed. It is OK to have these business-oriented men on the board of Olympic sports, but not as president."
Superstar: Sarah Sjostrom (top) comforts Cate Campbell after her shock 100m freestyle final fourth place in Rio - now she has smashed the Australian's world record.Credit: Swimming Australia
Coates argued that the golden era of swimming coincided with the presidency of former gold medallist John Devitt.
"I'm sure the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and the federal sports minister, Sussan Ley, will be concerned about the results in Rio, as well as the shadow minister for sport taking an interest.
Relations between the nation's two peak sports bodies, the AOC and ASC, have often been troublesome but the fracture this time has taken on a Sydney-Melbourne split, with the Sydney-based Coates opposed to Melbourne's Wylie drafting Victorian businessmen as heads of Olympic sports.
"I note that [Melbourne-based] Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford will soon become chair of Equestrian Australia," he said.
The Hockeyroos failed to make the semi-finals.Credit: Getty Images
"I also recall John Wylie said early in the Rio Games that if swimming produced the expected results, after one gold medal at the London Olympics, a statue should be erected and called Bertrand the Redeemer. A figurine might be more appropriate."
Wylie, who left Rio on Tuesday, said he would not comment publicly on Australia's failure to reach Winning Edge's target of a top-five nation finish, preferring to address the disappointment at a more dispassionate time.
Autocratic? John Coates' leadership style has come in for criticism.Credit: Getty Images
ASC chief executive Simon Hollingsworth said: "The focus at the moment should be on the team's performance as we head into the final days of the Games and the ASC will be reflecting on the overall outcome and where to from here after the Games have finished."