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Sydney vs Melbourne. Labor vs Liberal. Old boys' clubs vs woman power.
This AOC stoush has had more subtexts than a French art film. The public has been left spinning, as bitter comments fly from supporters in either camp.
And wow, it has been nasty.
John Coates has left no stone unturned, pressed the sports' International Federations and the IOC itself to seek to convince Australian sports they can't survive or thrive without the 27-year veteran at the helm and accused his challenger of being a puppet.
The Danni Roche campaign has shown tactical cunning, prompting outrage from Coates supporters who claim it's been orchestrated by political operatives as a dirt-trawling exercise, seeking to smear reputations to promote their candidate, and orchestrating the release of bullying allegations for the most devastating effect.
But what's really at stake? Possibly the most crucial issue in public life today.
It's the biggest issue facing sport: Not drugs, not cheating.
It's the core of the stoush between the IOC and WADA, the furore over FIFA and FINA; more recently Australian netball, FFA, Parramatta. It's what secures public trust, the lynchpin of an Olympic movement that struggles with this very issue.
Governance. It's an un-sexy term leading to the most important questions.
When it's applied to the AOC there are vital questions at play:
- Should an AOC president be a powerful "executive president" or a more hands-off "chair" style role?
- Should there be term limits?
- Should there be more transparency for an organisation that has prided itself, rightly, on its autonomy, but remained largely free of public scrutiny?
- Without that scrutiny, have bad practices or cultures flourished?
- Has John Coates' willingness to change in the past few weeks been indicative of an AOC that is genuinely responsive to changing public expectations and the corporate mood?
Coates has achieved much for the Australian Olympic effort, but at the same time his iron grip on power and marketing funds has increasingly chafed with many sports.
His unchallenged three decades at the top resulted in boards sympathetic to himself.
His increasingly rancorous approach towards the Australian Sports Commission and its chief John Wylie is not only bad for Olympic sport but created powerful enemies, and even his supporters say this must end.
Roche's candidacy has already changed things up
There's no doubt that Roche's campaign has played up on her appeal as a "disruptor".
Swimming Australia president John Bertrand is one of her major backers and he describes her as "an agent of change" who "won't be around forever".
In other words, while she's pledged to stay for at least a term, she will detonate what's been an endless grip on power at the top, and force fresh air into a powerful and well-funded organisation, placing more power in the hands of chief executive officer Matt Carroll than has been placed in that role for 30 years.
Already, just throwing her hat into the ring, and the controversial revelations that have followed, have forced Coates to signal the end of his term, to apologise for inappropriate language, to commission two reviews regarding workplace practices and probe unsettled allegations, and to signal a cut to his own controversial pay.
Will all that convince nervous sports to stick with Coates, believing he's 'got the message', will reform his ways and ultimately remains a better bet than his younger opponent?
Or has the groundswell of criticism and mood for change gathered to an irresistible tide that will wash the old guard away from the Sydney harbour headquarters of the AOC?
We'll see on Saturday.
Topics: olympics-summer, winter-olympics, sport, australia
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