|
Coles, Gosper tell it like it is
此文章由 intel5858 原创或转贴,不代表本站立场和观点,版权归 oursteps.com.au 和作者 intel5858 所有!转贴必须注明作者、出处和本声明,并保持内容完整
这是另一条有趣的消息。
AUSTRALIA'S two International Olympic Committee members, Kevan Gosper and Phil Coles, engaged in a loud slanging match at a cocktail party held by the Hong Kong Jockey Club at its Beijing clubhouse on Tuesday night.
Witnesses say the two started yelling at each other towards the end of the evening, with Gosper accusing Coles of leaking information to a Sydney newspaper about Gosper's tenuous hold on the chairmanship of the IOC's press commission.
Coles denied the claim and the vitriol began.
"You Aussies know how to get down and dirty," one guest at the function said. The two didn't touch each other, but that, apparently, was the extent of the decorum.
Gosper, who is from Melbourne, and the Sydney-based Coles have never got on. Their most famous falling-out centred around Melbourne's failed bid for the 1996 Olympics, when Gosper accused Coles of campaigning against the Australian city so that it would lose and he could pitch Sydney's candidature.
Coles blamed Gosper for inflaming accusations of receiving expensive gold jewellery from Athens bidders.
Gosper blamed Coles for the media frenzy that accompanied his daughter Sophie carrying the Athens Olympic torch and his prime role in the Sydney Olympics ticket fiasco.
That long, ugly history is said to have spewed forth as the waiters were starting to clear the tables.
Gosper was particularly upset after his torrid week. He had had to apologise to the world's press for misleading them about internet access. He had had to retract claims IOC president Jacques Rogge, or his underlings, had forged a deal with the Chinese authorities. And he had been forced to face his IOC colleagues, who weren't too happy with his public grandstanding. Coles, in the background, was rubbing his hands in glee.
Gosper's absence from Jacques Rogge's press conference on Saturday night — an event at which Gosper usually takes charge — was duly noted.
Australia's third IOC member, John Coates, left the jockey club minutes before the stoush began. It is not sure which of his IOC colleagues Coates would have backed. An astute political figure, Coates has famously both aligned with and distanced himself from the two men. |
|