THE ex-wife of Australian IOC member Phil Coles sent a note to the International Olympic Committee yesterday confirming allegations she had received gold and diamond jewellery from a man involved in the bid by Athens for the 1996 Games.

The statement by Georgina Coles that she received diamond cufflinks and a gold necklace cast new doubt on Coles's ability to survive the IOC's corruption scandal after he narrowly escaped expulsion for accepting free holidays in Salt Lake City.

Coles, who has denied receiving any jewels from Athens, was given a "most serious warning" for accepting excessive hospitality from the Utah state capital. He was also told that he faced the threat of expulsion - although IOC investigator Dick Pound said he would follow up reports of an Athens gift only if Coles's ex-wife confirmed them.

In the note, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters news agency, Mrs Coles told Pound and IOC Director-General Francois Carrard that she had received the gift. An Australian newspaper said this week that it had a copy of an insurance certificate valuing the jewels at almost U.S.$6,000.

Coles, 67, has said he received some cufflinks from someone in Athens but they were worth no more than U.S. $20. The former Olympic kayaker told reporters in Lausanne on Thursday that he had no intention of resigning.

Sydney Olympic chief Michael Knight earlier stepped up his campaign to have Coles resign from the board of SOCOG, the Sydney Organising Committee, saying the controversy was harming Sydney's Olympic preparations at a time when it still had to find new sponsors to shore up its budget.

One Sydney newspaper published a picture yesterday of Georgina Coles wearing the jewels at the Tokyo IOC session in 1990 when Athens lost out to Atlanta for the 1996 Games.

The couple later suffered an acrimonious marriage break-up.