AOC election loss ‘will cost John Coates his IOC roles’

The IOC has confirmed that John Coates will lose his IOC membership if he is defeated in the AOC election next week.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates.

John Coates would be stripped of his IOC membership and dumped from the many influential positions he holds in world sport if he is voted out as AOC president next Saturday, the International Olympic Committee has confirmed.

However, Mr Coates could return­ to the IOC as early as September, with the support of IOC president Thomas Bach, as an elected, independent member.

Mr Bach made clear his desire to keep Mr Coates involved with the IOC. “The role of John Coates and the important role he is playing­ in the IOC and the Olympic movement is obvious,” he told the website Around the Rings.

Mr Coates is Mr Bach’s senior vice-president and chairs the IOC co-ordination commission for the Tokyo Olympics. Both positions require IOC membership, which he holds by virtue of being president of the AOC.

The IOC’s director-general, Chris­tophe De Kepper, wrote to Mr Coates this month advising him that even if he accepted a newly proposed position of AOC honorary president upon losing Saturday’s election, he would lose his IOC membership.

“In response to your request, we understand that the ‘Honorary President’ position function … would be by definition and in practice different from the ‘President’ function which you have been exercising since your election as an IOC member,’’ Mr De Kepper says in a letter obtained by the ABC.

“Consequently, in the event of your not being re-elected as President at your (National Olympic Committee’s) forthcoming Elective General Meeting on 6 May … you would cease to exercise the function you were exercising at the time of your election as an IOC member.’’

This was confirmed by IOC spokesman Mark Adams, who told The Weekend Australian: “He is an IOC member by virtue of his function as NOC president. ­Accordingly, if he is not elected, his IOC membership and the key commissions that go with it will cease immediately.’’

Danielle Roche, an Olympic hockey champion challenging Mr Coates for control of the AOC, has proposed changing the AOC ­constitution to create a new role of honorary president for Mr Coates to use to continue his international work if she wins the election.

Ron Walker, a supporter of Ms Roche and an influential figure in Australian sport, politics and business, called the IOC intervention “an attempt to blatantly interfere in the Australian Olympic Committee’s domestic sovereignty’’.

In a letter to all Olympic sports, Mr Walker maintained that IOC rules allowed for Mr Coates to remain­ as an IOC member, so long as he accepted the proposed honorary rule. If this failed, Mr Coates could simply be re-elected to the IOC in a few months’ time.

Mr Walker’s position was backed by Catherine Ordway, a sports law expert who has previously advised the AOC. She cited the precedent of Hein Verbruggen, an international cycling boss who was made honorary president by his sport after losing an election and remained as an IOC member.

Mr Verbruggen lost an election in 2005 and continued his work as the chairman of the IOC co-ordin­ation commission for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

“Regardless of the outcome of the election, I believe that Coates will remain influential and retain his international roles,’’ Ms Ordway said.

Former IOC vice-president Kevan Gosper and other promin­ent supporters of Mr Coates have raised concerns Australia will lose its voice at committee tables where major decisions on international sport are made if he is ousted by Ms Roche.

Mr Coates has campaigned strongly on this point in his discussions with Olympic sports. He sent an email to sports yesterday linking Mr Bach’s interview with Around the Rings.

“When we spoke I touched on the consequences of me not being re-elected,’’ he wrote.

“As you will see from the attache­d overnight report this has now become an international story.’’

Mr Gosper believes that the political demise of Mr Coates — who is under intense scrutiny following revelations of skewed spending priorities and a toxic workplace culture at the AOC — would have far-reaching effects on Australian sport.