Replace Rogge as IOC President with a European says Coates
August 28 - Jacques Rogge should be replaced by another European when he steps down as President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after the 2012 London Games, Australia's John Coates said today.
The Belgian is due to retire in 2013 after 12 years in the top job and already candidates are beginning to emerge, including Morocco's Nawal El Moutawakel, who would be the first African President of the IOC, as well as the first woman.
But Coates, the President of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and a member of the IOC, believes that another European, like Germany's Thomas Bach, should replace Rogge.
He said: ''There are a number of candidates already.
"I can think of Thomas Bach, the German National Olympic Committee President, who was a gold medallist in fencing, and he is younger.
"I think he has done everything right along the way."
In the 115-year history of the IOC, which was founded in 1894 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, Rogge is only the eighth President.
Of the previous seven, only the United States' Avery Brundage, who ruled from 1952 to 1972, has been from outside of Europe, which Coates believes would rule him out of contention
He said: ''The President needs to come out of Europe because of its proximity to so much sport, and I don't come from that continent, coupled with my age, and the fact I am not an Olympic medallist.''
Coates, a lawyer by profession, was a senior vice-president of the committee that staged the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
He joined the IOC a year after the Games finished and is now seeking election to the organisation's ruling Executive Board, where his rivals for a place on the 15 member group will include Britain's Sir Craig Reedie and Ireland's Patrick Hickey.
Coates, 59, is already a member of the IOC Coordination Commission monitoring London's preparations for the 2012 Olympics.
The successful applicants will be announced after a vote at the IOC's Session in Copenhagen in October.
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