Tag Archives: Rio Olympics

Former OCI president Pat Hickey and boxer Michael Conlon

Johnny Watterson, in The Irish Times, reports:

An official Rio Olympics report from Irish boxing team manager Joe Hennigan claims that Irish management were informed during the boxing competition that fights at the games had been fixed.

It further claims that the medal hopes of one of our brightest prospects, Michael Conlan, were “gone” before he stepped into the ring.

The alarming claims were made in a three-page report, verified as authentic and seen by The Irish Times.

Hennigan, who was subsequently voted in as vice-president of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association in 2017, was given the information regarding fixing a day before Conlan was due to fight Russian opponent Vladmir Nikitin on August 16th. At the time Conlon was the World Amateur Bantamweight champion.

…Having been told the bout was already fixed, Hennigan describes his efforts to locate the then Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president Pat Hickey in order to inform him and try to protect the interests of the Irish boxers.

[Hennigan in his report wrote] “…we tried on numerous occasions to see Pat Hickey to get him to intervene he was never available . . . I finally got to speak to him at an event the following day and explained the problem to him.”

…The OCI said they were unaware of any allegations of match-fixing and had not seen the boxing team manager’s report.

The OCI is not aware of this report and yes would welcome a copy,” said a spokesperson. “The allegations of bout-fixing you refer to from the report are shocking.”

Former OCI president Pat Hickey could not be reached for comment.

Rio report claims Michael Conlan’s 2016 Olympic fight was fixed (Johnny Watterson, The Irish Times)

From top: Shane Ross (right) and Pat Hickey flank Olympic sailor Annalise Murphy at Rio last Summer; from left: OCI President Sarah Keane, Executive Committee Member Lochlann Walsh and Honorary Treasurer Billy Kennedy

This afternoon.

Buswells Hotel, Dublin 2

The Olympic Council of Ireland gives a media briefing on the Judge Moran Report into the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

The IOC, along with their ticket seller Pro 10 and former president Pat Hickey, declined to take part in the inquiry.

Via BBC:

Pro10 was appointed after another reseller, THG, was rejected by the Rio organising committee.

THG was the authorised ticket reseller for the OCI at the Olympic Games at London in 2012 and Sochi in 2014; it was intended by Marcus Evans, who owned THG, and Mr Hickey that it would be the authorised ticket reseller again at Rio 2016.

However, in May 2015, the Rio Organising Committee for the Olympic Games rejected the application of THG for this position.

The Moran Report stated that Pro10 seemed to be little more than a cover for THG – and that Pro 10 was not fit for purpose.

“It might appear that the appointment of Pro10 was to disguise the continuing involvement of Marcus Evans and THG in the sale of tickets in Ireland for the Rio Olympics,” it said.

The invocation of the “right against self-incrimination” by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), THG, Pro10, and Mr Hickey created a major obstacle.

Irish Rio ticket reseller provided ‘chaotic service’ (BBC)

Meanwhile…

FORMER OCI boss Pat Hickey intends to return to international Olympic duties “in due course”.

The Dubliner, who is facing trial in Brazil on charges of ticket touting, has said a judge-led inquiry here found no evidence of criminal activity, adding that his good name has been “cleared”.

Former OCI boss Pat Hickey intends to return to Olympic duties ‘in due course’ (Kevin Doyle, Irish Independent)

Rollingnews

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From top: Sonia O’Sullivan at the Atlanta Games 1996; Fr Liam Kelleher at the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympics

Readers may recall the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

It was the year Cork athlete Sonia O’Sullivan was forced to strip naked in front of other athletes in order to change her running gear – from Reebok to Asics – in the tunnel next to the track just before her 5,000m heat.

It happened amid a row between the Olympic Council of Ireland, who had a reported £75,000 deal with Reebok, and the then national athletics organisation Bord Lúthchleas na hÉireann (BLE), who had a contract with Asics.

It was reported at the time that Pat Hickey, of the OCI, personally told Sonia she could wear her gear from Reebok – with whom she had a sponsorship deal – even though BLE had registered the Asics strip as the official Irish team strip three days before the competition began.

Following the incident, Mr Hickey held a press conference on the issue – which was attended by Ms O’Sullivan.

Further to this, Cork priest and long-time athletics coach, Fr Liam Kelleher, who was national PRO for BLE at the time, writes:

Pat Hickey has done some fantastic work which cannot be denied but his obsession for power has finally been his undoing.

I have known him since 1972, from my first Olympic Games in Munich all of 44 years ago, and I was not happy with the antics that happened in Atlanta in 1996 during the “Sonia saga” which again was well documented at the time.

I was Press Officer for the then Irish athletic organisation BLE and was totally embarrassed by what transpired.

I saw Sonia dragged to the press conferences after the gear-changing, controversy which must have adversely affected her performance, and remember being acutely sorry for her having to try to give answers to the assembled media.

What really transpired we will probably never know.

I was hugely upset too, and when I returned to Ireland, I resigned my position as National Press Officer of BLE.

I went on national radio on the News at One, then with Seán O’Rourke to explain my reasons. My great friend Frank Greally [of Irish Runner magazine] covered the issue with five pages on Irish Runner with title “Pastor departs”. It was written by Sean McGoldrick whom I actually met at the stadium in Rio last week.

At that time, in 1996, I issued a broadside against the Olympic Council of Ireland which made banner headlines in the papers and for which I was castigated, in many parts, for being way off the mark.

But, I got huge support from people in the know.

One thing I said and wrote was: “The Olympic Council of Ireland are democratically elected by nobody, are answerable to nobody and dictate to everybody.”

So, you can see, the warning signs were there 20 years ago, if they were heeded.

My outburst came at a cost. Four years later, at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, there was no way I could get a press pass – which had to be signed by the President of the OCI [Pat Hickey] – to cover the events for Marathon Athletics Magazine which I had been publishing since 1984.

In Sydney, I tried every day for six days in a row with the help of Frank Greally from Irish Runner and John O’Sullivan [Sonia’s father] but no joy.

Tickets were impossible to get so I was resigned to watching it on TV. Two hours before Sonia was due to run, I was with Frank Greally when Pat Hickey passed by.

Frank said,’Now is your last chance, bury your pride and go and ask him’, but I turned down Frank’s plea. We went again to the press accreditation centre  put a bundle of magazines on the table and, to her eternal credit, the lady at the desk who at this stage must have been fed-up with me, decided to ring the communication chief and he gave the OK.

To my knowledge, it was the only accreditation given out without the signature of the President.

If I were asked now about the Olympic Council, I would have mixed views.The obvious one has to be transparency, and too much power must never again be the domain of any individual.

What do I think of Pat Hickey now?

I genuinely feel sorry for him as I stated at the outset he did a fantastic amount of work, he moved in high places with people like Russian President Putin numbered as one of his allies and goodness knows how many more, who can do little to help him now.

He is obviously suffering huge trauma and distress and if we want to put it in terms of punishment perhaps this is enough and let him go free. He has paid a huge price already.

Pics: Getty/FrKelleher

Previously: Calling It

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Uncanny.

A ‘greenside’ bunker At the Olympic Golf Course, Rio, Brazil.

Powerscourt Golf tweetz:

Does anyone else think this bunker looks like Ireland ?

The Broadsheet Book of Unspecified Things That Look Like Ireland, edited by Aidan Coughlan (New Island)

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This morning.

The Olympic Council of Ireland launches the 2016 Irish Olympic Kit from American (was it for this?) footwear giant New Balance in the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin 1 ahead of the Rio Olympics in Brazil this Summer.

Top from left: Athletics – Thomas Barr, gymnast Ellis O Reilly, diver Oliver Dingley, middle distance runner Ciara Mageean, athlete Arthur Lanigan, boxer Katie Taylor, runner Mick Clohisey, badminton player Chloe Magee and hockey goalkeeper Davey Harte.

Why isn’t the male runner wearing a crop top?

Anyone/FIGHT!

Sam Boal/Rollingnews