Sydney: The official who made public a weightlifting scandal has been axed as a coach of the Australian team less than a month before the London Olympics, a report said on Thursday.
Mike Keelan, who was chosen to mentor Olympic lifters Damon Kelly and Seen Lee in London, was told by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) late Wednesday that his services were no longer required, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Keelan levelled allegations earlier this month that lifter Daniel Koum had threatened to sabotage Australia’s Olympic chances unless he was paid A$5,000 (Dh18,500) at a qualifying event in Samoa — an allegation the athlete strongly denies.
If any Australian male athlete had failed to compete at the event the team could not have finished among the top five nations, meaning Australia would have been unable to send any male lifter to the London Olympics.
Keelan said at the time that he and a group of coaches and officials made the difficult decision to pay the money rather than see the Olympic dream of other athletes evaporate.
The AOC subsequently called for an independent investigation.
Olympic team chef de mission Nick Green wrote a letter to Keelan confirming the decision to axe him, which will lead to the personal coaches of both Australian athletes, Miles Wydall and Anthony Dove, now going to the Games instead, the report said.
“The AOC has revised the staffing allocations and accreditations for the weightlifting section. It will make available an additional accreditation to enable both athletes to have their personal coaches accredited for competition days,” a spokesman told the newspaper.
Keelan declined to comment on the latest report.
