Sam Coffa, President of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA), confirmed the appointment here today where he is attending the London Prepares Weightlifting International Invitational, the test event for next year's Olympics, in his role as vice-president of the International Weightlifting Federation.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh last month introduced in State Parliament the Commonwealth Games Arrangements Bill, which enables the set-up of a company to plan, organise and deliver the Games and the appointment of a new Board to oversee it from January 1, 2012.

The Bill is to be fast-tracked through the Queensland Parliament so that the Gold Coast 2018 Board is officially announced before the end of this year but Coffa revealed that he has already agreed with Bligh that 48-year-old Stockwell, a former swimmer who won two silver medals and a bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, will be the chairman of the Organising Committee.

"It was very clear that we needed to take the expertise we built up in the Bid Committee through to the Organising Committee," Coffa told insidethegames.

"It was never a case of the Bid Committee doing one job and then stepping aside to let someone else come in to deliver on all their promises.

"That was never going to happen.

"So although it hasn't been confirmed officially yet, the Premier and I have agreed that Mark should be chairman of the Organising Committee and by virtue of the fact that I am the President of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association, I will be the deputy chairman of the Organising Committee as well as the chairman of the Sports Committee.

"Perry Crosswhite [the chief executive of the ACGA] will also play a prominent role and while no firm decisions have been made; there is a strong likelihood that Mark Peters [the chief executive of the Gold Coast 2018 bid] will be involved too.

"So we are going to have a lot of expertise in our group with Mark Stockwell and myself leading things and when you bring together that team, with all the experience we have, I really think we can put together something very special in the Gold Coast."

Coffa's comments are no great surprise as Stockwell, who is married to America's triple Olympic gold medallist Tracey Caulkins (pictured) and is now a successful property developer, played a crucial role in helping the Gold Coast hold off sole bid rivals Hambantota of Sri Lanka by 43 votes to 27 at the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) General Assembly in St Kitts and Nevis last month.

Following the victory, Stockwell was praised by Bligh as well as Ajith Nivard Cabraal, the co-chairman of the Hambantota 2018 bid team.

Coffa, who was also key in helping secure the Gold Coast 2018 victory, believes that Stockwell is the perfect man to lead the Gold Coast 2018 preparations and feels that the city will do the Commonwealth games Movement proud.

"The Gold Coast is such a great destination for a Commonwealth Games," he said.

"The spectators will love it, the athletes will love and the important thing is that after a long, hard bid race, we have made it a reality and I'm very pleased and very proud.

"The key now is that we need to put the same energy and passion that we put into the bid in order to prepare and deliver the very best event the Commonwealth has ever known and I really think that with the team we will have in place, we can do just that."

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