Veteran sports administrator and three-time Olympian Phil Coles has been farewelled at his Sydney funeral.
About 200 mourners attended St Mary's Anglican Church in suburban Waverley on Monday, with broadcaster Alan Jones giving the eulogy.
Coles, who played key roles in sending an Australian team to the politically-charged 1980 Moscow Olympics and in securing the 2000 Games for his home town Sydney, died late last month aged 91.
He will also be remembered as one of 24 International Olympic Committee (IOC) members implicated in the bidding bribery scandal for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.
Coles said the affair left a smear on his reputation. He added he had evidence to clear his name, but did not want to open "a whole hornet's nest" that would damage the Olympic movement.
He represented Australia in canoeing at the 1960, '64 and '68 Games before becoming one of this country's top Olympic officials.
IOC president Thomas Bach hailed Coles as a key figure when the then-Australian Olympic Federation resisted federal government pressure to support a US-led boycott of the 1980 Games over the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan.
"It made him proud for the rest of his life to have led these athletes into the Olympic Stadium," Bach said in a statement.
"His love for the Olympic Games was at the centre of his life."
Coles also helped convince fellow IOC members to narrowly choose Sydney over Beijing as the 2000 Games host city.
Triathlon's Olympic debut at the Sydney Opera House was a highlight of the opening days of competition and Coles was crucial to the sport joining the Games program.
