A "who’s who" of Olympic champions and other leading figures in Australian Olympic sport have "rallied to support beleaguered Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates" as he fights to retain his position "in the last days before the AOC election on Saturday," according to Nicole Jeffery of THE AUSTRALIAN. Olympians spanning 60 years, from '56 (Olympic medalist Marlene Matthews) to '16 (Rio Olympic rower Kerry Hore), and including "Olympic greats" Herb Elliott and Cathy Freeman, have "endorsed Coates as he faces a challenger," 1996 Olympic field hockey Gold Medalist Danni Roche. Olympic Gold Medal winning-coach Ric Charlesworth, who coached Roche to her Gold, said that he was "disgusted by the increasingly ugly campaign against Coates." Charlesworth said, "Brian Schmidt (the Nobel prize-winning scientist) has been doing physics for 30 years, should he be sent packing? Rupert Murdoch is an octogenarian and so is Frank Lowy, should they go? It’s about competence, not longevity." Charlesworth described Roche as "divisive" and said that she had no leadership experience. Elliott, a 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist, said that Coates is an “exceptional’’ leader of the AOC and "should not be forced out due to his longevity." Elliott: "We are probably the most impressive National Olympic Committee in the world and that's because we have a great leader" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 5/2). In Brisbane, Robert Craddock reported Gold Medalist Natalie Cook has "thrown her support" behind Coates, declaring the debate over his A$700,000 ($527,290) wage "irrelevant." Cook: "His wage is a drop in the ocean -- he could ask for five times as much and from my perspective it would be worth it." Roche has "pledged to do the job for a minimal allowance," promising the A$3M ($2.3M) worth of savings over four years from Coates’ annual wage of A$700,000 would be "poured back into Olympic sports." But Cook claimed this is a "red herring." Cook said that the AOC’s present wealth of around A$140M ($105.5M) was "because of Coates’ investment strategies" when the body received an A$88M injection after the Sydney Olympics. She said, "The AOC pays its staff wages out of dividends from those investments so they don't even have to eat into the nest egg" (COURIER-MAIL, 5/1).
KEEPING HIS DAY JOB: In Melbourne, Anthony Colangelo reported Roche said that Coates could "maintain a role" with the IOC even if she defeats him at an upcoming vote. Her comments "go contrary" to the IOC's spokesperson. The spokesperson said on Saturday that Coates would lose "all functions" on the IOC, including his VP position, if he was replaced as AOC president by Roche. Roche: "That is not actually correct. The IOC has options to keep him in different categories or potentially the same category" (THE AGE, 5/1).
