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Coles says he will not resign
Posted: Sunday May 09, 1999 01:04 PM
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Australian International Olympic Committee member Phil Coles said Sunday said he will not resign from the Sydney Games board even if fellow IOC member Kevan Gosper advises him to do so. Coles, 68, said he would wait to hear any messages Gosper had from last week's IOC executive committee in Lausanne, but was firm in his one-word answer if asked by Gosper to resign from the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games: "No." Coles further told Channel Seven's "Sportsworld" television program that he had not received anything in writing from the IOC "as to what the problem is or with what I might have been charged." The IOC announced last week it had deferred until June a decision on an investigation into whether his ex-wife accepted expensive jewellery from people associated with Athens' failed 1996 bid. The IOC earlier had reprimanded Coles for accepting excessive hospitality and travel from the successful 2002 Salt Lake City bid team and warned him any further indiscretion would result in expulsion. Coles sits on the SOCOG board because he is an Australian IOC member along with Gosper. But he stepped aside in March when the Salt Lake City hospitality allegations were first aired. Last week, it was revealed that 400 pages of documents containing his own candid assessments of IOC voting members were passed on to the Salt Lake City bid team. Coles said Sunday that having the hand-written comments publicly revealed had been 'extremely embarrassing' and he was determined to find out who leaked them to Salt Lake City. Both Olympic Minister Michael Knight, who is also SOCOG president, and SOCOG chief executive Sandy Hollway have asked Coles to step aside from the board, citing damage to ticket sales and sponsors calling for his dismissal.
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