John Coates, Australian Olympics Committee
John Coates, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President and Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad - Tokyo 2020 attends a news conference in Tokyo July 1, 2015. Reuters / Thomas Peter

John Coates, the president of the Australian Olympics Committee, has apologised for the controversial remarks he made in a leaked email in which he urged a female staff member with cancer to "go out in the real world" since he was not running a "sheltered workshop". Coates' comments triggered hue and cry on social media Thursday, with some asking the 66-year-old to step down from his position.

"Of course, it was the wrong choice of words. I know that because I've spent most of my adult life advancing the cause of disabilities and for which the Australian Paralympic Committee extended me its highest award -- the Australian Paralympic medal. It's actually one of the things I'm proudest of. Yes, I got the email wrong and apologise," Coates said in a statement, via The Sydney Morning Herald.

Coates' comments were condemned by Greg Hunt, the Federal Sports Minister, and Australian Paralympic Committee chief executive Lynne Anderson. Hunt referred to Coates' comments as "unacceptable" and said it had "no place in Australian public or private discourse."

However, it was the reaction of Dylan Alcott that echoed the most with the media and physically-challenged athletes. Alcott is a former Paralympic gold medallist and triple j presenter. "A sheltered workshop is where able-bodied people and disabled people work separately but it's used colloquially to belittle an able-bodied person saying you're acting like someone with a disability or you can't do a role. What it says is basically people with disabilities are second-class citizens we cannot do the work of an able-bodied person," said Alcott, via ABC.

The controversy comes at a time when the AOC is already under the hammer. Mike Tancred, the commission’s media director, has already stepped aside due to allegations of bullying while Coates has had his presidency challenged by government officials and former athletes including former Olympian Danni Roche. On Thursday, Roche called for an external investigation into the allegations of bullying at the AOC.

"On the day I announced I was standing for the role (of president) I made a commitment to reset the philosophy and culture of the AOC. The allegations of bullying and intimidation are of a very serious nature," said Roche, who reportedly aspires to replace John Coates as the president of the AOC.