Australian Olympic Committee presidential candidate Danni Roche says she remains confident that the momentum for change she needs to oust John Coates still exists.
Roche will soon find out if her bid to unseat Coates, the veteran Australian Olympic committee (AOC) president, has been successful.
The secret ballot, to be held on Saturday morning in Sydney, will bring to an end a bruising six-week campaign, which has tarnished the AOC with allegations of bullying and cultural dysfunction.
Roche, a former Hockeyroo and 1996 gold medallist, has campaigned on a platform of reform, vowing to take a vastly reduced salary, reinvest the AOC’s administrative costs into sport development, improve transparency and foster collaboration with the government’s sports funding arm, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC).
Coates, the committee’s president for the past 27 years, is relying on his ability to bring in sponsors, improve the AOC’s finances and advance Australia’s interests abroad through his role as vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Each of the summer and winter sporting federations will have equal votes, while voting will also come from the AOC’s executive committee and the athletes’ commission.
Coates has the support of the athletics body, rowing, volleyball, the athletes’ commission and the winter sports.
But, on the eve of the vote, Roche told Guardian Australia she remains confident the will for change still exists across Australia’s sporting bodies.
“There is certainly a momentum for change, typified by the record number and quality of nominations for the AOC executive,” Roche said. “I have outlined a comprehensive platform for change which puts past, present and future athletes back at the centre of the AOC.”
Coates has very publicly fallen out with the ASC chairman, John Wylie, and has described Roche, an ASC board member, as Wylie’s “puppet”. Coates is marketing himself as a leader who can give the AOC independence from government and the ASC.
But Coates has been the subject of damaging allegations throughout the campaign and was forced to apologise for using the term “sheltered workshop” when referring to the AOC.
Coates has also been accused of tolerating a culture of bullying and intimidation within the AOC. Its former chief executive Fiona de Jong alleged Coates had ignored a complaint of bullying she had made against one of his key backers.
Coates has repeatedly denied those allegations and told the ABC on Thursday that they were simply “not true”.
He said no one else was yet ready to lead the organisation.
He told the ABC’s 7.30 on Thursday that he would give the organisation “continuity” and indicated he had faith in the current chief executive, Matt Carroll, and would take more of a back seat if re-elected.
A key theme of the campaign has been the fractured relationship between the AOC and ASC. Roche told Guardian Australia she would immediately address the “dysfunctional relationship” that exists between the two organisations but would remain independent.
She has promised to reform the governance of the AOC and reduce the salary of the president from $700,000 to $100,000, which she would then forego.
“Good governance such as term limits would be introduced to bring the AOC up to the standards of corporate Australia and international sporting bodies like the IOC,” she said. “There has been a very enthusiastic response from sports to my platform.”
The ballot will take place at the museum of contemporary art on Saturday morning. Ninety-three votes will be cast in total, including 66 from the summer sporting bodies and 14 from the winter bodies. Another one vote each is given to the AOC’s executive members and another from the athletes’ commission.
