John Coates retained the Australian Olympic Committee presidency by "defeating challenger Danni Roche in Saturday's election," according to Steve Larkin of the AAP. He won the vote 58-35 at the AOC annual general meeting in Sydney to "keep the presidency" he has held since '90. Australian sport's most powerful individual was "congratulated by Roche immediately after the result of the vote was announced and then briefly addressed the meeting." The 66-year-old will retain his IOC vice-presidency as a result of winning the vote which "followed a bitter election campaign including claims of widespread bullying within the AOC." Coates "now faces the task of uniting a split Olympic movement." Coates and Roche also "agreed to independent reviews into the AOC's workplace practices after claims of bullying" (AAP, 5/6). ABC reported Coates conceded the AOC brand "has been damaged by a bitter presidency campaign." He said, "The brand has been damaged but I think that's easily repairable as we focus on these teams that are going away. That's what our executive should be focused on." Roche warned Coates that "there was a mood for change within Australia's Olympic family." She said, "Although the AOC's members didn't vote for a change in president, the past six weeks marks a pivotal moment in Australian sport" (ABC, 5/6). REUTERS' Nick Mulvenney reported Coates has not come through the process "unscathed," however, and lost his "fiercely loyal" media director, Mike Tancred, to accusations of bullying from former AOC CEO Fiona de Jong during the campaign. While his "financial and money-raising acumen remain beyond doubt," he must find a way to work with the government, through the federally-funded Australian Sports Commission, to "arrest a slide down the medal tables in recent Olympics" (REUTERS, 5/6).
