Kevan Gosper, Australian Olympic movement heavyweight, dies
One of Australia’s most esteemed figures in the Olympic movement, as both an athlete and official, has died after a short illness, aged 90.
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Australia’s influential sports powerbroker Kevan Gosper AO has died aged 90 after a lifetime of serving the Olympic movement.
Mr Gosper, a two-time Olympian and Olympic silver medallist in the 400m relay at the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956, was involved in some of the most dramatic moments in world sport.
Mr Gosper held many leading roles in the International Olympic Committee, including vice president on two occasions, and it was only his principled arguments in 1980 for Australia to boycott the Moscow Olympics which didn’t help his ambitions of becoming the IOC president after Juan Antonio Samaranch.
As well as being a key figure in Australia’s bid for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Mr Gosper was a supporter of sport in Papua New Guinea and East Timor and throughout the Pacific region.
He was a founder of the Oceania National Olympic Committees and remained active on their board until his death.
“They call him the doyen there,’’ said fellow IOC member John Coates.
Mr Gosper used his business acumen and widespread influence - he was the chairman and chief executive of Shell Australia - to push for the creation of the Australian Institute of Sport and was its founding chairman.
He also strongly backed Canadian IOC member Dick Pound and his establishment of the World Anti Doping Agency.
Australian Olympic Committee president Ian Chesterman said Mr Gosper had left an indelible mark on Australian and world sport.
“Kevan was one of the true giants of the Olympic movement, not just in Australia but globally,’’ Mr Chesterman said.
“His loss will be felt enormously by so many of his friends who are gathering in Paris for the Olympic Games. There will be so many there from across the world who will have a heavy heart today with the news of Kevan’s passing.
“As a young emerging sports administrator, Kevan was someone I personally admired greatly for his impact and effectiveness and I always greatly appreciated his support and counsel, particularly in later years as I took on more senior roles.”
Mr Gosper’s love of sport was only matched by his love of his family, wife Judy and children Dean, Brett, Richard and Sophie.
Dean, a lawyer, is the former chair of Snow Australia. Brett is with the American NFL having previously run World Rugby.
Mr Gosper was involved in controversy in 2000 when 11 year old Sophie was the first person to run with the Sydney Olympic torch after it had been lit in Olympia. The ensuing furore crushed Mr Gosper who insisted the honour had been given to her by his Greek colleagues to acknowledge his family’s sacrifices while he did Olympic work.
Mr Coates said the two words which come to mind when remembering his friend was “strong and principled’’.
He said: Kevan was a very strong person, a renowned businessman around a lot of cowboys at that time and he certainly made sure the Australian Olympic Committee was not affected that way’’.
“He used to say to me in terms of governance, and it wouldn’t have scrubbed these days, ‘if you could eat it or drink it, then it was okay’.”
Mr Gosper was a fierce advocate of press freedoms and continued to be a member of the IOC press commission until his death. He was instrumental in ensuring relaxations on China’s tough internet rules during the 2008 Olympics.
Mr Gosper, as an honorary IOC member, had been planning to attend the Paris Olympics, but died after a short illness surrounded by his family in Queensland.
The IOC will remember Mr Gosper at their session this week and will lower the Olympic flags in the IOC headquarters in Lausanne
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