Athletes back John Coates in major boost to him retaining post

AOC president John Coateshas taken a big step towards retaining his position.

Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates has received the backing of the Athletes Commission.

Beleaguered Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates took a major step towards retaining his position in Saturday’s election when he won the support of the AOC Athletes Commission last night.

After a “long and vibrant’’ meeting, the athletes announced that their two votes would go to Coates after a non-unanimous majority vote.

In a statement, the athletes made it clear that challenger Danni Roche’s call for change within the AOC had struck a chord with the commission but that they wanted a “planned and strategic transition of John Coates out of the presidency”.

However, they want to temper the power Coates has wielded for many of his 26 years as president.

“The Athletes Commission wants to see a balanced, independent and collaborative executive board and, as such, supports the election of Andrew Plympton to one of the vice-president roles,’’ they said.

Plympton, a Melbourne businessman and former Sailing Australia president, has backed Roche’s campaign.

The athletes’ statement suggests that Coates’ decision, under pressure from his opponents, to introduce a more regular administrative structure for the AOC if he is re-elected was crucial to their decision.

The commission “supports the transition to a traditional non-executive president role, supported by a strong executive board’’ and “has confidence in the incoming CEO Matt Carroll to take on the full responsibilities of a CEO”.

Coates has served as executive president in recent years but said earlier this week that he would divest most of his executive responsibilities to Carroll if re-elected.

The athletes also support a review of Coates’ remuneration and for the scope of his role and salary to be decided by the executive board. They also supported an independent investigation into the allegations of bullying at the AOC and review of the workplace culture and expressed confidence in Carroll and ASC executive director Kate Palmer to develop a better working relationship between the two bodies.

They called for “proactive remediation’’ of the relationship between the AOC and Swimming Australia, which has deteriorated badly in recent years.

Meanwhile, the two votes of the combined aquatic sports will go to Roche, despite a split decision when the four sports met on Wednesday.

Swimming Australia president John Bertrand has been an open advocate for Roche, an Olympic hockey gold medallist, since the campaign began and his view prevailed when he met with his fellow presidents from water polo, diving and synchronised swimming.

“We will be voting for change,’’ Bertrand confirmed yesterday.

“Not all four of us agreed but the majority did and that was accepted by all.’’

Of the leading Olympic sports, athletics and rowing have declared for Coates, while the aquatic sports join hockey in the Roche camp. Due to the peculiarities of the Olympic voting system, the four aquatic sports must share their votes because they are all represented by the one international federation (FINA).

That means that new Olympic sports such as sport climbing and skateboarding have an equal voice in the meeting with the traditional Olympic sports of athletics and swimming.

The new AOC president will need to secure 47 votes or more in the secret ballot in Sydney on Saturday morning.

The voting college numbers 93. Each of the 40 sports (33 summer and seven winter) have two votes each, each member of the executive (11) has a vote and the Athletes’ Commission has two votes.

IOC member James Tomkins is also entitled to a vote but he will be away at an IOC program commission meeting in Lausanne.

The campaign for the first contested AOC presidency election since Coates assumed the role in 1990 has been bloody but Bertrand argues that it will still benefit the organisation. “Regardless of which way it falls, the public debate is healthy, even through the brand has taken a hit,’’ he said.