Coates reignites spat over Olympic funding
JOHN Coates has rekindled a spat with Australian Sports Commission (ASC) boss John Wylie, claiming he’s suffering a case of “relevance deprivation” amid new funding fears.
Potential funding cuts to multiple sports, including Australia’s three-time Olympic gold medal-winning Hockeyroos, have hit the headlines ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
In response, Wylie wrote a column to call for unity and silence in the face of funding uncertainty until after the Games, fearing it might jeopardise the nation’s medal chances in Japan.
But the long-time Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) chief categorically rejected his plea, suggesting sports bodies would quickly find themselves on the back foot for the 2024 Paris Games without financial security.
“They seem to me the mutterings of a man who’s got relevance deprivation, coming up with just six months to go,” Coates said.
“The difference I have with
John Wylie and his piece is saying ‘look, let’s not talk about this until after the Games’.
“You need to be putting this to bed during this cycle so you go straight into the next cycle and you don’t lose six months. (It’s) hard to plan when you’re employing coaches and things like that. That’s my concern.”
The pair haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, with Coates admitting to calling Wylie a “c***” and a “liar” to his face three years ago after the ASC chief attempted to shake hands at a Melbourne athletics event.
With the recent spate of negative media, Coates denied the AOC had any involvement in ramping up pressure on the ASC. The commission oversees government funding arrangements for all sports.
He also rejected Wylie’s concerns athletes’ lead-up preparations for Tokyo might be affected by the funding squabble in the media.
“The uncertainty of knowing whether the funding is continuing is very relevant,” Coates said.
“Insofar as John being concerned whether his name is there or mine, no one knows who we are.
“We’re irrelevant. The athletes just get on with it.”
Earlier yesterday, Coates spoke to Australian men’s soccer coach Graham Arnold who was in search of extra cash to assist the Olyroos training in Japan after qualifying for their first Olympics since 2008.
“I had a chat on the way in with Graham Arnold,” he said.
“They were one of the sports that was reduced. We’ve been critical of the fact that some sports have had there funding reduced. We’re critical of the criteria being just medals.
“Whether the government can redirect some money – I read that there’s a pool of money there for the final runup to Tokyo – so I hope that’s wisely spent.”
The spectre of Brisbane’s 2032 Olympics bid looms as a silver bullet to arrest Australia’s post-Sydney Games medal slide.