Coates to be IOC vice president
John Coates will be elected International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice president after his sole rival Syria’s Sami Moudallah withdrew from the vote on Tuesday.
Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president Coates, who has been with the IOC since 2001, will be voted in at the 125th session of the IOC in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.
Coates will be the second Australian to fill the office of IOC vice president after Kevan Gosper.
“I am truly honoured that none of my colleagues have chosen to stand against me and looking forward to supporting our new president and ultimately the athletes we represent,” Coates said in an AOC statement.
Six candidates are bidding to become president of the IOC after Jacques Rogge stepped down after a 12-year reign.
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That campaign came alive in public on Monday as outsider Denis Oswald launched a blistering attack on frontrunner Thomas Bach.
Oswald, the respected long-time president of the Rowing Federation, blasted his fellow lawyer and colleague over using his position for gain, and for the German government’s wielding pressure to try to get him elected.
Oswald, who won a bronze medal in the coxed fours in the 1968 Games, told Swiss French radio station RTS in Buenos Aires that several IOC members are annoyed by the agreements between 59-year-old Bach and Kuwait in particular.
“It is up to the members to make their choice,” said 66-year-old Oswald.
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“Certain of them are annoyed by the agreements that have been struck between Kuwait and Bach … and also the pressure being brought to bear by the German political authorities, which one cannot ignore.
“Certain members believe that it is not really very democratic and that could have an opposite effect on Bach’s election chances.”
Oswald, who admitted he had little hope of being elected (“I am no longer the age where I believe in Father Christmas”), lashed out when asked whether he would withdraw to help Bach.
“Certainly not in the case of Thomas Bach! I don’t believe he and I share the same values!
“What I hear … is he is implicated in commercial affairs. He uses his position to his benefit so that he can gain contracts for the companies he represents.”
Oswald, who was head of the coordinating commission for last year’s London Games, said his idea of the IOC president and what his role should be were vastly different to that of Bach.
“I imagine a president who is independent, who is not dependent solely on alliances with other people and who does not use his position for anything else but the defence of sport.”
Bach, a three-time IOC vice-president and head of its judicial commission, said he had not heard the remarks. “There have been so many rumours these past few days that I have stopped listening to them and instead focused on talking with my colleagues, and that is going very well,” he said.
IOC spokesperson Emmanuelle Moreau said later Oswald regretted his remarks.
“Mr Oswald has apologised to the IOC and explained he went over the top in his remarks,” she said.
