AOC Athletes Commission chairman Steve Hooker has been urged to intervene to ensure the independence of the inquiry ©Getty Images

A call has been made for the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) Athletes’ Commission to intervene in an investigation assessing complaints made against the organisation’s director of media and communications Mike Tancred.

An open letter to the Commission has been published by Ryan Wells, who worked for the AOC between 2000 to 2005.

Wells alleges he was threatened by Tancred when at the organisation, while three unnamed women have also reportedly making either informal or formal complaints.

Tancred has denied the allegations made against him.

Tancred was "severely reprimanded" but cleared of bullying following an investigation into a claim made by former AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong in May.

He then issued a public apology to Fiona de Jong after admitting intimidating her in a phone call.

De Jong claimed she had received a call from Tancred after she had made an official complaint about an AOC Board member to the organisation’s President John Coates.

She claimed the Board member had accused her of leaking information to the press.

De Jong said Tancred then called her demanding the complaint to be withdrawn before issuing a threat.

Wells has claimed he has "no confidence”" in the latest inquiry, after several requests to meet assurances were not met.

He has called for the AOC Athletes Commission to honour their commitment to support an independent review of workplace culture.

"The AOC expects very high standards of athletes who represent Australia at the Olympic Games, and the Athletes’ Commission believes that the same high standards should be placed on employees, directors and contractors to the Australian Olympic Committee," the group said May when they backed AOC President John Coates for re-election.

"I am writing to you as one of many bullying victims of AOC media director, Mr Tancred," said Wells in the open letter addressed to Athletes’ Commission chair Steve Hooker, the 2008 Olympic pole vault gold medallist.

"The Australian Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission, as the principal custodians of the Olympic movement and Olympism in Australia, I know will take the obligation to uphold the Olympic values seriously and will have been deeply concerned about the disrepute the conduct of Mr Tancred has heaped upon the movement in Australia.

Ryan Wells has called for the Athletes Commission to ensure four conditions are met ©ITG
Ryan Wells has called for the Athletes Commission to ensure four conditions are met ©ITG

Wells claimed the process falls short of the process endorsed by the AOC Athletes Commission in May.

He has urged the Commission to intervene to ensure a public call for evidence is made to the inquiry and the appointment of a "wholly independent advocate to represent victims".

Wells has also demanded that the terms of reference are published publicly prior to hearings beginning, as well as an "absolute assurance that bulling incidents are heard concurrently, any sanctions arising are considered cumulatively and are mutually aggravating".

"It is my understanding that the AOC, or those acting under its auspices, have withheld terms of reference to avoid scrutiny, appointed the inquiry panel and anointed long-term AOC legal representatives as the ‘independent’ inquiry secretariat," Well wrote in his letter.

"Indeed, it seems that the complaints against Mr Tancred are each being considered separately, and only in the context of the AOC Code of Ethics, which apparently defines bullying in such a narrow way that, for example, the bullying against each of former CEO Fiona de Jong, former company secretary and chief finance officer Sue O’Donnell, myself and others are each considered separately rather than as a chain of behaviour.

"I have sought and been denied assurances from the AOC that the forthcoming second Tancred inquiry will be full, forensic and just so am unwilling to contribute to the second inquiry in its current form."

The Commission is chaired by pole vaulter Hooker and also includes rowers Kim Brennan and James Tomkins, kayakers Jess Fox and Ken Wallace, athlete Alana Boyd, swimmer Cate Campbell, freestyle skiers Ramone Cooper and Lydia Lassila, boxer Shelley Watts and hockey player Jamie Dwyer.

A timescale has not yet been given for the conclusion of the investigation into the remaining complaints.

The AOC have also committed to an independent review of workplace practices.

De Jong spoke out against the conduct of Tancred in the lead-up to the AOC Presidential election on May 6 when Coates held off the challenge of rival Danielle Roche to be re-elected.

Coates received 58 votes to Roche's 35, extending a reign which stretches back to 1990.

He gained the majority of the 93 votes on offer at the AOC’s Annual General Meeting at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

The International Olympic Committee vice-president had faced the prospect of losing international roles had he been beaten by Roche, an Olympic hockey gold medallist from Atlanta 1996.