Hockeyroo captain Rechelle Hawkes joins fight for AOC board spot

Rechelle Hawkes has thrown her name into a fiercely contested field of candidates jostling for a spot on the AOC board.

Rechelle Hawkes, a three-time Olympic champion who captained Australia’s women’s hockey team through its period of world dominance, has thrown her name into a field of candidates jostling for fiercely contested spots on the AOC board.

At the close of nominations yesterday ahead of a May 6 ballot, Hawkes, Olympians Tracey Gaudry (cycling) and Evelyn Halls (fencing) and Baseball Australia president David Hynes had all been put forward as candidates by their respective sports.

Diving Australia chairman ­Michael Murphy, a two-time Olympian and a principal of private equity firm Bain Capital, was nominated by gymnastics.

From the current Australian Olympic Committee board, only Olympic and world rowing champion Nick Green has chosen not to nominate. This leaves 16 candidates for 10 ­places on the executive, including that of vice-president and president.

Australia’s Olympic movement faces a month of intense politicking, with AOC president John Coates seeking to extend his 26-year-tenure against an unprecedented challenge by Hockey­roos gold medallist Danielle Roche. Hawkes was Roche’s captain at the Atlanta Games and has welcomed her decision to challenge but is determined to say neutral in the presidential stoush.

“I know you’ll say I’m sitting on the fence but I actually want the sports federations to decide,’’ she said. “That is their decision, not mine. John has been an incredible administrator and really well regarded in the Olympic movement and Danni is up and coming, someone who wants to make some changes. I have a very good relationship with John and Danni is a teammate. They are both more than happy for me to run as a candidate for the executive board.’’

Hawkes nominated last year for the board seat created by the abrupt resignation of Coates’s long-serving ally Peter Montgomery, but the AOC had already settled on Athletics Australia president Mark Arbib as his replacement by the time her nomination was received.

All Olympic sports and current members of the AOC executive will vote to elect a president, two vice-presidents and the make-up of the board until the Tokyo Games.

A vote will also be taken on a change to the AOC constitution designed to give Coates a dignified exit and enable his continued involvement with the International Olympic Committee.