John Coates outlines plan for successor after next term

John Coates, who has led the AOC since 1990, confirmed that he would seek just one more term as president.

AOC president John Coates.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates has outlined his succession plan, if he is re-elected, in a letter to the 40 sports that will decide his fate at the AOC annual general meeting in two weeks.

Mr Coates, who has led the AOC since 1990, confirmed that he would seek just one more term as president and would stand down in 2021, after the Tokyo Olympics.

It has been widely assumed that Mr Coates would want to anoint his own successor.

However, under pressure from the challenger for his job, 1996 Olympic hockey gold medallist Danni Roche, he has pledged to adopt a more consultative ­approach over the next four years.

He has now committed to mentoring whoever the AOC executive and nominations committee identify as a future leader over the next four years.

There has been speculation in recent months that Mr Coates wanted Athletics Australia president and former federal sports minister Mark Arbib to succeed him, but Mr Arbib said emphatically last month that he had no interest in the position.

Mr Coates acknowledged that in discussions with the sports in recent weeks, the issue of ­succession had been raised repeatedly and needed to be ­addressed.

Also the International Olympic Committee vice-president, Mr Coates said international experience in sports administration was “absolutely critical’’ to whoever succeeded him — a pointed reference to Ms Roche, whose only previous international experience was as a vice-president of the Oceania Hockey Federation.

“I have always worked hard, and continue to work hard, to ensure Australian teams and athletes have the best possible resources and opportunities,’’ Mr Coates wrote to his constituency.

“In this my last term I will work with the executive and federations to ensure future leaders gain the exposure and experience they will need to get the best ­results for Australian sport in the future.’’

Mr Coates outlined his own broad experience in Olympic administration before he was elected as AOC president (nine years on the executive, five as vice-president and chef de mission of the Olympic team) to emphasise the qualifications he felt were necessary for the role (and that Ms Roche lacks).

“It was that experience that prepared me for the international roles that I now play for the Australian sporting federations and athletes and I am committed to providing similar exposure and experience to all of those from whom the next president will emerge for election,’’ he wrote.

Details of Mr Coates’s letter emerged following revelations this week that he had fallen out of favour with a host of Olympians, including two current AOC board members, swimmer Nicole Livingstone and canoeist Danielle Woodward, as well as former hockey player Rechelle Hawkes and diver Michael Murphy. It was also revealed that the AOC had spent $6.4 million in commissions to a sponsorship agency over three years, about a third of what it spent on the Rio Olympics team.

During the election campaign, Mr Coates has been criticised for his frequent absences from Australia on IOC business, while collecting a $700,000 salary from the AOC, but he argued that those international roles gave him the opportunity to prepare his successor by providing access to the decision-makers in ­Olympic sport.

“It is as chair of the IOC Co-­ordination Commission for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games that I can provide the best experience and exposure opportunities for those that the AOC Nominations Committee identifies as future leaders, from within and outside the executive, by inviting them to the biannual Co-ordination Commission and biannual project review meetings,’’ he wrote.

Hockey Australia, which has nominated Australian Sports Commission board member Ms Roche for president, has also proposed that Mr Coates be appointed honorary president if he is defeated in the election so he can continue in his IOC roles, which are subject to his position as a ­national Olympic committee president.