The vice-president of the International Olympic Committee and outgoing president of the Australian National Olympic Committee, John Coates has revealed that the awarding of the 2000 Olympic Games to Sydney were ‘bought to a large extent’. Coates was vice-president of the Sydney bid, which took place seven years prior to the event back in 1993.
In a recently discovered hour-long interview in 2008, the IOC vice-president admits to offering Kenya’s IOC member Charles Mukora and Uganda’s IOC member Francis Nyangweso payment in exchange for their vote in favour of Sydney. The offer reportedly took place during a dinner event the night prior to the vote.
Coates revealed that he offered £28,000 ($35,000) to the two African National Olympic Committees, but was later cleared of any wrongdoing in 1999 with payments said to have been ‘not directly’ offered.
