John Coates challenge ‘a takeover bid’

John Coates believes a challenge for his job at the AOC is part of a takeover bid by the ASC.

Close observers believe John Coates will be re-elected president of the Australian Olympic Committee. Picture: AAP

Australian Olympic Committee boss John Coates believes his challenger for the AOC presidency, hockey gold medallist Danni Roche, has been put up by the Australian Sports Commission chairman John Wylie in a move to take control of his organisation.

The Australian yesterday revealed Ms Roche, who is also an ASC board member, would run for the AOC presidency against the background of a feud between two of Australia’s most powerful sports leaders, Mr Coates and Mr Wylie. She said she had received “overwhelming support” for her decision to stand at the election, at the AOC’s annual general meeting in Sydney on May 6.

Mr Coates’ spokesman, Mike Tancred, said he was not surprised that he would face a challenge for the first time since he was elected president in 1990.

“For quite some time now we’ve been in robust discussions with the sports commission and we understand that Mr Wylie has approached certain people to run against John Coates, and that Danni Roche was one of those people and she’s accepted his invitation to run against John Coates,’’ Mr Tancred said.

Ms Roche has been nominated by Hockey Australia, and denied she had been recruited by Mr Wylie to stand against Mr Coates, although she said she had the ASC chairman’s support.

“I am my own person, I’m an Olympian, I’ve been an Olympian for 20 years, I am passionate about athletes and sport, and I care about making a difference and making sure that we provide every opportunity for athletes and sport,’’ she said.

“I believe John Coates has made a terrific contribution to Australian sport over the last three to four decades but I do ­believe it is time for a change.’’

Close observers of the AOC ­believe Mr Coates still has the support of the majority of sports and will be re-elected. If he were defeated, he would lose his position on the International Olympic Committee, which he holds by virtue of being a ­national president.

Mr Coates’ detractors have made much of the $700,000 fee he receives for his AOC work and Ms Roche said she would cap the AOC president’s salary at $100,000 a year and would waive it for the length of her term if elected.

“This is not a symbolic gesture. It will save about $3 million over the next four years alone,’’ she said.

Mr Tancred responded that Mr Coates came “really cheap’’ and was worth 10 times his remuneration, given his fundraising ability and corporate connections.

“Other sporting leaders in Australia are paid way more than $700,000 a year,’’ he said.

“John Coates is a world leader in sport, he’s highly respected, he brings a lot of corporate dollars through the door because he has the connections.’’

Ms Roche also vowed to repair the rift that has developed ­between the AOC and ASC and to take a more collaborative ­approach. But she also vowed to protect the AOC’s autonomy, saying that was “sacrosanct’’ but not incompatible with greater collaboration.

Mr Tancred said Mr Coates, 67, was actively looking for a successor “but he wants to find the right successor to see the Olympic movement continues to prosper”.

Mr Coates had identified Olympic rowing gold medallist Nick Green, an AOC board member, as a potential successor until his troubled stint as chef de mission of the London Olympic team.

Former AOC president Kevan Gosper said he found the challenge to Mr Coates extraordinary, given his international standing in sport as an IOC vice-president and key adviser to president Thomas Bach. “I can’t imagine a precedent where an (national) president is doing his job well, and is a senior IOC vice-president, and has been challenged,’’ Mr Gosper said. “John Coates doesn’t deserve that.’’

In Mr Gosper’s time, the presidency was an honorary position, but he said Mr Coates’ remuneration as an executive president was “extremely modest’’ for one of the top sports administrators in the world.