Kevan Gosper

Infobox_Officeholder
honorific-prefix =
name=Richard Kevan Gosper
nationality=Australian
order=Chief Commissioner of Melbourne
term_start=1993
term_end=1996
deputy =
predecessor=
successor=
birth_date=Birth date and age|1933|12|19|df=y
birth_place=
death_date=
death_place=
spouse=
party=

Richard Kevan Gosper (born 19 December, 1933) is a former Australian athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He is currently the Vice President of the International Olympic Committee.

1956 Summer Olympics

He competed for Australia in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia where he won the silver medal in the 4 x 400 metre relay with his team mates Graham Gipson, Leon Gregory and David Lean.

International Olympic Committee

He was nominated to the International Olympic Committee in 1977; is currently a Vice President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and was a Vice President of the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG). He is Chief of the IOC Press Commission, Deputy Chairman of the IOC Co-ordination Commission for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Chairman of Olympic Games Knowledge Services and President of the Oceania National Olympic Committees. He was Inaugural Chairman of the Australian Institute of Sport 1980-85, and President of the Australian Olympic Committee 1985-1990 and continues to serve on its Executive Board.

From 1980 to 1993 Kevan was Chairman and Chief Executive of Shell Australia in Melbourne, and later Head of Shell Asia Pacific operations out of London. The other positions he has held include being Chief Commissioner of the City of Melbourne and Chairman of the National Australia Day Council. He is a Director of a number of Australian companies including Crown Casino Limited, Visy Industries and Lion Nathan.

He was honoured with an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 for services to athletics and the Olympic movement, [cite web
title=It's an Honour
Australian Government
url=http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/awards/medals/sports_medal.cfm
accessdate=2008-08-10] and has been similarly honoured by France, The Netherlands, Spain, Monaco and Senegal. His autobiography, "An Olympic Life", was published in March 2000.

Gosper, also known as Lord Gosper due to his overly officious and self important nature is viewed with much derision in his native Australia and is often ridiculed in the nations media, particularly by sporting and current affairs presenters Roy Slaven and HG Nelson.

Gosper attracted controversy in the run up to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney when he organised for his daughter to run part of the Olympic Torch relay in place of a girl representing the Australian-Greek community who was originally scheduled to run. [cite news|url = http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/stories/s125425.htm|title = Sophie Gosper, Olympic torch bearer| date = 10 May 2000| accessdate = 2008-04-24|work = The World today| publisher = Australian Broadcasting Corporation|last = Wilde| first = Kevin] More recently he has been accused of being an "apologist for dictators" after his criticism of pro-democracy protesters during the Beijing 2008 torch relay. [Herald Sun article, [http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/china_torched_5/] April 2008]

Gosper recently suggested that during the Olympic Torch Australian appearance Chinese para-military torch attendants could be called into action if Australian police were unable to cope with potential protests. His remarks prompted a swift rebuke from Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland. [The Australian article, [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23547274-2702,00.html] 16 April 2008]

In late July 2008, he became embroiled in a scandal over Chinese government censorship of the Internet. He had earlier announced that China would not censor the Internet for journalists covering the Olympics, then in late July announced that, without his knowledge, China had reneged on its promise.

Notes