Lausanne, 16 November On the occasion of its 33rd Meeting, held in Lausanne (Switzerland),the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) elected Mr John Coates AC (Australia) as President of ICAS for the period 2011-2014.

Mr Coates has been a member of ICAS since the creation of the Council in 1994 and a Vice President since 1995. He succeeds Mr Mino Auletta (Italy) who did not stand for re-election.

Mr Coates is the third ICAS President after Judge Kéba Mbaye (Senegal), founder and first President of ICAS, and Mr Auletta.

Mr Coates is a lawyer from Sydney. He is President of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), a member of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and a Council member of the International Rowing Federation (FISA).

Mr Coates will start his new position as ICAS President on 1 January 2011.

The task of the ICAS is to facilitate the settlement of sports-related disputes through arbitration or mediation conducted by independent arbitrators/mediators. Among its duties, the ICAS looks after the administration and finances of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and monitors the application of the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (CAS procedural rules).

The ICAS is composed of 20 international lawyers coming from the sports movement or from the arbitration world.

At the same meeting, the ICAS also elected its two vice presidents: Mr Gunnar Werner (Sweden) and Mr Michael Lenard (United States).