Coates wins bitter fight to remain Australian Olympic chief

Long-time Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates on Saturday beat off challenger Danni Roche to remain the president of the AOC.

Coates, who has been the president of the Australian Olympic Committee for 27 years, won a secret ballot 58-35 after a bitter campaign for the presidency at the AOC AGM in Sydney.

"Thank you very much for the confidence that you have shown in me," Coates told the meeting after the ballot results were announced.

Coates, 66, dubbed the most powerful individual in Australian sport, has been AOC President since 1990 and a Vice President of the International Olympic Committee since 2013.

He now faces the task of uniting a split Olympic movement as he extends his presidency to three decades.

He has declared this will be his last three-year term of office and has vowed to step down after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The strength of Roche's campaign will put pressure on Coates to change the way the AOC is operated.

Roche had campaigned on a platform urging reforms to the AOC's culture and governance, and pledged to cut overheads and the president's exorbitant Aus$700,000 (US$526,000) salary with a view to spending the extra cash on athletes and underfunded sports.

The acrimonious lead-up to the AOC vote saw allegations emerge concerning a culture of bullying and intimidation inside the lavishly-resourced body.

Veteran AOC media director Mike Tancred stood down from his role pending the outcome of a bullying claim against him by former AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong.

De Jong, who left the AOC in December, also outlined cases of alleged workplace bullying since 2004 in the AOC.

Roche, 46, a former Atlanta Olympic field hockey gold medallist and board member of the federal government-backed Australian Sports Commission (ASC), had campaigned for change in the AOC.

"Congratulations to John Coates on his re-election as AOC President. I wish the entire @AUSOlympicTeam every success in the future," Roche tweeted shortly after the ballot.

Australia's 40 Olympic sports, 11 AOC executive members and two delegates from the AOC athletes' commission voted to keep Coates in office.

Coates supporters Ian Chesterman and Helen Brownlee were also elected as the two Vice Presidents at the AGM ahead of Andrew Plympton, Coates' chief critic on the AOC board.

source: AFP