was spent in Australia. The controversy caused by this was fully investigated by the IOC and Mr Coates was cleared of any wrongdoing. Coates was quoted as saying "I wasn't going to die wondering why we didn't win, like we didn't win (when competing with) Brisbane or Melbourne. We needed to get our fair share of votes out of Africa." In an article published in Sydney's Daily Telegraph on 27 January 1999, Coates said Australian officials had at first been "terribly naive" about the bidding process but soon "refined" their efforts. Based on the lessons of two failed Games bids (Brisbane and Melbourne), Coates produced a 16-page strategy document. With government support, the budget for securing IOC delegates' support was increased from A$6 million for the Brisbane bid to A$28 million for Sydney. As he explained: Over the course of my involvement with three Australian Olympic bids, I watched this bidding process get out of hand. After a relatively benign process delivered the 1988 Games to Seoul, the 1992 bid took the process to a new level of professionalism and competition. That escalation continued for the 1996 and 2000 bids, with each successive bidder seeking an edge. In July 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the hosting rights of the 2032 Summer Olympics to Brisbane, stating that John Coates played no role in the bidding decisions. However, it was believed that Australia's win in the one-city race wouldn't have been possible "if we didn't have John Coates". Coates, who maintains close ties with the IOC President Thomas Bach, was able to secure the hosting rights for Australia for the second time, after the 2000 Summer Olympics that took place in Sydney. However, The foul play by John Coates in electing Brisbane as the venue for summer Olympics 2032 creates a fear in the minds of the citizens of Brisbane about an economic crisis. Prior to the Sydney Olympics, Coates had allegedly paid $35,000 inducements to both of the two African members of the IOC, Major-General Francis Nyangweso of Uganda and Charles Mukora of Kenya in 1993. "My view was it might encourage them to consider their votes for Sydney," Coates said at the time. Controversy In 1980, Coates was at the heart of the controversy as to whether Australia should boycott the Summer Games in Moscow. He was adamant that, as one of the two countries that had participated