OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST Sonia O’Sullivan says that she will “review” her position on the board of the Olympic Council of Ireland.
Speaking to Ray D’Arcy on RTÉ Radio One, O’Sullivan said that the OCI board “needed answers” in the wake of the Rio Olympics ticketing scandal.
Last Friday, former OCI President Pat Hickey was charged by a Brazilian judge in relation to alleged ticket touting.
Nine others, including Irishman Kevin Mallon from THG Sports, also face charges including criminal organisation, ticket touting, ambush marketing, larceny, money laundering, and tax evasion.
Hickey protested his innocence and said he “intends to face all the charges and to fight each and every one of them”.
O’Sullivan, who was Chef de Mission of the Irish team in London in 2012, said that she will review her position before her re-election to the board is due next year.
She added that as a board, ticket sales had never been raised.
We never discussed buying and selling tickets, as the Olympic Council of Ireland, so we need to know the answers as well.
“As part of the board, you feel responsible, so you have to stay there and help to find the answers and hopefully move the Olympic Council of Ireland onto bigger and better things.
You don’t want it to drag on for another few years because before you know it we’ll be looking at the Olympics in Tokyo. This is going to be a huge distraction for the athletes if it drags on. There’ll be a lot of uncertainty amongst all the federations in Ireland.
D’Arcy asked the silver medalist from Sydney 2000 if she was happy to stay involved with the OCI, to which she responded it was “difficult”.
“Am I happy to be a member? That’s quite a difficult question to answer because when I came on board with the OCI it was a link for me to continue to be involved with athletes and continue to be involved with the Olympic Games.”
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