MONACO — John Coates is one of four International Olympic Committee vice presidents.
He also is chair of the IOC commission overseeing preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
He also is from Australia, the country where swimming is not only the most popular Olympic sport but the country where swimming is more popular than any other.
So when Coates slammed both the change of swimming competition times for the 2016 Rio Olympics and Rio’s preparations for the Summer Games, his words resonated.
So does his changed opinion on both issues.
This is what Reuters quoted Coates as saying Nov. 20 when reports first circulated that Rio swimming finals would run from 10 p.m. to midnight.
“It’s a matter that the (Australian Olympic Committee) will now take up with the international swimming body FINA and with the IOC. It’s just an unreasonable demand on the athletes to be competing at that time of night.”
Yet Coates did not bring it up during Friday’s IOC executive board meeting, the first time that body convened since his criticism.
This is how Coates explained Saturday his acceptance of the swimming schedule here Saturday — a day after the IOC said the swimming finals in Rio will, in fact, run from 10 p.m. to midnight:
“It has been explained as to where the interests of the swimmers are, and the interests of the sport, and the point has been made that I wasn’t aware of earlier that the times for the heats have been similarly put back two hours, so there is the same gap between. (And there is) the fact the (Olympic athletes’) village is open for dining 24 hours.”
So I asked if he now werecomfortable with having swimming as the late show.
“Yes.” he said. “And Australian swimming is comfortable. They’re getting on with it. I think the Americans said, ‘We’ll swim at any time.'”
Especially if it pleases NBC, the U.S. TV Olympic rights-holder, which has made swimming its must-watch sport of the last three Summer Olympics. That has meant incalculable promotional value for USA Swimming.
The late start will put the events live in NBC’s prime time everywhere but the Pacific time zone, where they would run from 6 to 8 p.m. instead of the afternoon rush hour period.
One point Coates did make at Friday’s executive board meeting was a compliment for the Rio Olympic preparations that he had called “the worst I have ever experienced” during an April 29 speech at an Olympic forum in Sydney.
In explaining the reason for his pat on Rio’s back after its organizing committee’s Friday presentation to the executive board, Coates did not give an unqualified vote of confidence.
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“I gave the view of the 17 international federations earlier this year that progress is lacking, particularly in the eight sports in the Deodoro (Olympic Park) section,” he said. “There has clearly been significant improvements and progress. Still, they (Rio organizers) said there are seven sports that still remain an issue and tight for them, but I did pay them a compliment on the progress they had made.”