At 71, John Coates does not yet feel like retiring. The Australian leader took advantage of a speech to the National Press Club to detail his personal projects. Certainly, he will leave the presidency of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) next year, after a 32-year lease. But he will retain a seat on the body's board of directors until the Paris 2024 Games, in his capacity as an IOC member. At the end of the Olympiad, John Coates intends to become honorary president for life of the AOC, a newly created position, for his sole intention for the moment. The role promises to be mainly honorary, but John Coates has already made it known that he would be paid around 150.000 Australian dollars per year (95.000 euros at current prices) for his consulting activity. Most of his time will then be devoted to exercising the function of non-executive director of the organizing committee for the Brisbane 2032 Games. A name is already being circulated with insistence to succeed John Coates as president of the Australian Olympic Committee: Ian Chesterman, the current vice-president of the body, head of mission of the Australian delegation to the Tokyo Games. During his speech to the National Press Club this week, John Coates said the Tokyo Games had been “ the greatest in history", because of the unique challenge they represented for the Japanese and the Olympic movement, but also for their reach across the entire planet.
