Rower to lead Australian Olympic team
Australia’s 2012 Olympic team will be led by Olympic gold medallist rower Nick Green. Green will replace current Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates as chef de mission of the Australian team.
Green, 41, is best known for his time rowing with the famed “Oarsome Foursome”, the men’s four that won back to back gold medals at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. The crew, with Green on board, also won four World Championship titles. All of these medals were won with James Tomkins in the boat. Green was known as the pacifier, the team player in the boat.
Green will get a trial run as chef de mission when he leads the Australian junior team for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
Taking over the chef de mission role from Coates means that Green ends a 20-year stint for the AOC president. Coates, who is also FISA’s continental representative for Oceania, has been Australia’s chef de mission since 1988 and although he will remain as president of the AOC, Coates believes that it is time for a younger person to lead the athletes at the Olympic Games.
Coates has been a long-time supporter of rowing. He began as a high school coxswain and remained involved in the sport including a stint as president of Rowing Australia.
In the Herald Sun newspaper Coates reported that the AOC planned to spend $30 million (AUD) to prepare and get 400 athletes to the 2012 London Olympics. This number is down from 435 that were sent to Beijing.
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