In a development that will send shivers down the spine of Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates, gold medallist Danni Roche is running for his job.
Roche sits on the Board of the John Wylie-chaired Australian Sports Commission, which is at war with the AOC over Australia's performance last year at the Rio de Janeiro games, and preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The former hockey player and St Kilda FC director has taken a leave of absence from her ASC position and will resign it if she is successful in her putsch.
As if relations between the two bodies could get any worse. At the Nitro Athletics meet in Melbourne in February, in full view of the country's top sports administrators, Wylie approached Coates offering a ceasefire, and his hand. Coates refused it and suggested he'd see the investment banker Next Tuesday, as they say in the classics.
Federal Sports Minister Greg Hunt is reportedly furious that the ridiculous barney is distracting from his more important portfolio of health.
Anyhow, Wylie may have stacked the Olympic sporting codes (which vote on the AOC presidency) with friendly presidents, but we'd bet Coates survives, for now. He hasn't lasted this long by accident. The bloke would survive a nuclear holocaust with nary a green glow. Perhaps Roche's is a two-term strategy? This one should be on Pay-per-view!
