Australian Olympic Committee vice-president Ian Chesterman says no future president will ever fill the shoes of John Coates and warned no one should even try until the respected sports administrator has reached his use-by date.
A tense battle for control of the country's Olympic movement will come to a head on May 6 when Danni Roche - a member of the Hockeyroos' 1996 Olympic Games gold medal winning team - attempts to knock Coates off the perch on which he has sat unopposed since 1990.
Chesterman, Australia's chef de mission for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, said 66-year-old Coates's expertise still makes Australia the envy of national Olympic committees all over the world.
"We have a unique position in Australia to have a man like John Coates as president of the Australian Olympic Committee," Chesterman told AAP's Sports Editors Conference in Sydney on Wednesday.
"I think if you walked in to every other Olympic committee office around the world and said, `you could have John Coates as your president', they'd go, `thanks very much, send him our way'.
"His depth of knowledge is extraordinary about the Olympic movement."
The frantic lobbying for votes comes amid the backdrop of a bitter high-profile stoush between Coates and Australian Sports Commission chairman John Wylie.
Roche sits on the ASC board but strongly denies Wylie put her up to contesting.
Chesterman hoped "good sense prevails" in the highly anticipated ballot.
"My view is there will never be another John Coates," he said.
"He's a unique individual who's been able to create unique levels of engagement across the entire Olympic movement.
"I don't think we should be getting rid of that until we absolutely have to, because whoever is the next president won't be able to fill John Coates' shoes."
Last week Swimming Australia president John Bertrand said to extend Coates's 27-year tenure could put the Australian movement at risk of stagnation.
