Brisbane given the green light to make Olympics bid

John Coates reveals that Brisbane has been authorised to mount a bid for the Olympic Games.

AOC president John Coates: ‘We’ve authorised Brisbane and six supporting cities to do a feasibility study and I have the experience’.

Olympics supremo John Coates revealed last night Brisbane had been authorised to mount a bid to stage the Olympic Games in 2024 or 2028.

Mr Coates dangled the prospect of Australia staging a third Olympic Games ahead of a vote tomorrow to decide if he will remain president of the Australian Olympic Committee.

He said if he won the AOC presidential election his main priority would be bidding to host another Olympic Games.

“There is debate at the moment as to who will get 2024 and 2028,” said Mr Coates, a key player in Sydney’s 2000 Olympics. “We’ve authorised Brisbane and six supporting cities to do a feasibility study and I have the experience.”

“What I want to do, whether it’s 2028 or 2032, is to champion that in Australia and internationally.”

In an interview on ABC’s 7.30, Mr Coates criticised his former chief executive Fiona de Jong several times, saying she had never stepped up and he was glad to see her replaced.

“The last CEO I gave every opportunity; I sent her to Harvard. But she came back and she didn’t step up so I had to take back responsibilities,” Mr Coates said last night.

Mr Coates said in the past few years he had not had a capable chief executive until Ms De Jong was replaced by long-time senior rugby administrator Matt Carroll in March.

“I’ve been an executive president because I didn’t have faith in the CEOs underneath me,” he said. “I gave the last one every opportunity to step up but it didn’t happen, so I took back marketing responsibility, communications responsibility. We now have a new CEO, Matt Carroll ... I’ve got full faith in him to be able to step up and do these things and enable me to step back into a more traditional type role.”

Mr Coates has worked with seven different chief executives or secretaries-general in his 26-year reign as president.

He said he aimed to take a step back from major responsibilities and be an international figurehead for the organisation should he remain president. “I’m very happy now that I’ve got a CEO who is capable of running the show, to hand far more over,” he said.

Mr Coates said although he had been in the role for so long, he did not believe it was time to let through the next generation of leaders. “There’s so much happening at the moment, I would say it’s time for continuity,” he said.

Mr Coates also commented on the accusations that he had fostered a culture of bullying and intimidation at the AOC, complaints primarily headed by Ms De Jong.

“You’re talking about anecdotes,” he said. “If there’s any complaints that anyone can bring, they can bring them to me.” People could take complaints to his chief executive if they did not have the courage to approach him, he said.