Australian team doctors at the 2012 London Olympics were "issued with legal threats and blackballed from future Games" after refusing to disclose to the Australian Olympic Committee "confidential patient information about athletes they had treated," according to Chip Le Grand of THE AUSTRALIAN. As part of an investigation commissioned by the AOC into suspected use of sleeping drug Stilnox by athletes competing in London, Olympic doctors were "accused of breaching team agreements and bombarded by up to a dozen legal letters." The dispute culminated in the AOC "disbanding its medical commission" in May '13 and "severing ties" with commission Chair Ken Fitch, "a sports medico who was an Australian team doctor" at the 1980 Moscow Games. The commission, which is responsible for "planning and managing the logistics, medical supplies and staff required for Olympic Games," was reformed a year later with new membership. The AOC banned Stilnox and other sleeping medications in the lead-up to the London Games. The decision to ban Stilnox was made by AOC President John Coates "against the advice of the AOC's own doctors." The doctors, some of whom have been volunteering for Australian teams for as long as Coates has been AOC president, were "furious that a sports administrator with no medical qualifications had dictated what medicines they could" and could not prescribe. A subsequent request by Swimming Australia to "soften the ban in the lead-up to last year's Rio Games" to allow competitors to use the drug as a "last resort" was "slapped down" by Coates and Media Dir Mike Tancred (THE AUSTRALIAN, 5/5).
BRISBANE GAMES: ABC reported Coates will "spearhead a bid for Brisbane to host the 2028 or 2032 Olympic Games if he is re-elected on Saturday." Coates also revealed he "planned to step back from running the organisation." Coates said, "The executive will be able to determine how they want to use me outside of my IOC responsibilities. I don't want to continue to be running the shop here at the AOC." Coates "hit out at former AOC CEO Fiona de Jong," claiming she was not "capable of doing the job." Coates: "I sent her to Harvard. We gave her every opportunity. She came back, she didn't step up and I took back the responsibilities" (ABC, 5/4).
