The Confederation of Australian Sport welcomes the announcement that Ian Chesterman will succeed John Coates as President of the Australian Olympic Committee, after being elected at the AOC Annual General Meeting held in Sydney last Saturday.

Mr Chesterman became the seventh AOC President receiving 67 votes in the ballot, ahead of swimming Olympian Mark Stockwell’s 26 preferences.

A member of the AOC Executive since 2001, Chesterman was appointed as AOC Vice President in 2016 and served as Chef de Mission for the Australian Winter Olympic Teams at Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2022, Torino 2006, Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018. 

He was also in charge of the Australian Olympic Team in Tokyo, successfully shepherding the team through the COVID-19 pandemic and one of the most challenging editions of the Games, an achievement that won him much deserved praise within the Australian sporting community. 

He now takes office at a crucial time for Australian sport, with Brisbane and Queensland appointed as host of the 2032 Olympic Games last year.

“We have such an exciting runway ahead,” Chesterman said after his election.

“The Olympic movement is in really great shape after we had such fantastic Games in Tokyo.

“The Australian population fell in love with the Olympics again after a magnificent performance over there and our athletes in Beijing were superb as well.

“Now we’ve got Brisbane 2032 just ten years away, so this is certainly a fantastic time to be involved in the Olympic movement,” he said.

In his first comments after the election, Chesterman highlighted the importance of the lead-up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games to drive even more interest in Olympic sports across the country. He also pitched for more funding to ensure Australia makes the most of the tremendous opportunities ahead.

“My vision for the Olympic movement is about making sure we continue to create opportunities for young Australians,” Chesterman said.

“Our runway for 2032 really needs to start now. 

“We want to have our sports empowered with further investment from the Government to really get out there, run great programs and get our kids involved. Our Olympic sports have a fantastic role to play in Australia.

“I am really excited about the opportunity to be involved in the Olympic movement at this time, because the future of the Olympic movement is so bright,” Chesterman said.