Olympics daily thread

clairewithani

onekeano wrote: »

Heard the solicitor for the Hickey family on the Finucane show this morning....talk about drivel and I quote:

- He's a father and grandfather
- One of the grandkids is a "miracle baby"
- Another grandkid is due to start school this week and it was a big thing that Pat was gonna take him to school
- He has a heart condition - he'd been getting electro cardio something or other.
- He insisted his Mrs came back to Ireland and leave him there
- He's asked for some mosquito repellant which implies that he's in danger of getting malaria and zyka
- He didnt want the Mrs staying there in case she got arrested too

It's unbelievable what a free run Finucane gave her without asking about the emails, THG relationship, Hickey son working for THG in London 2012, putting Shane Ross "back in his box" and so on.......

Finucane is well past her sell by date at this stage...

Roy

Never mind her, solicitor must be brutal.

Tell me how

clairewithani wrote:

Never mind her, solicitor must be brutal.

Solicitor is paid to represent. Doesn't mean she's a fan of Hickey either.

I can't get over the sheer brassneckedness to give the 2 fingers to the government just weeks ago and to now making a public ploy for assistance from the government.
The audacity of it is nearly impressive.

Joe_ Public

Tell me how wrote: »

Solicitor is paid to represent. Doesn't mean she's a fan of Hickey either.

I can't get over the sheer brassneckedness to give the 2 fingers to the government just weeks ago and to now making a public ploy for assistance from the government.
The audacity of it is nearly impressive.

x times infinity.

Chivito550

Should there really be world championships in non Olympic events in rowing in an Olympic year. Seems almost like a consolation prize for many rowers who didn't make the Games. I think World Championships should be just the 3 other years in an Olympic cycle.

Fair play to Paul. Were there many others from Rio who did these world championships I wonder?

marienbad

Chivito550 wrote: »

Should there really be world championships in non Olympic events in rowing in an Olympic year. Seems almost like a consolation prize for many rowers who didn't make the Games. I think World Championships should be just the 3 other years in an Olympic cycle.

Fair play to Paul. Were there many others from Rio who did these world championships I wonder?

This has always been the case in Rowing .There are no events in Olympic boats in the world championships in Olympic year .

Remember there are only two lightweight events in rowing in the Olympics so the world championships are not just about the singles but the lightweight eights , quads, singles etc . I think it is a brilliant tradition.

.

Skid X

The O'Donovan Brothers are doing a Press Conference, live on RTE News Now at the moment.

dinorebel

Skid X wrote: »

The O'Donovan Brothers are doing a Press Conference, live on RTE News Now at the moment.

Did they need a translator?

Oldira

So after Irish Rowing winning their first Olympic medals and getting another crew to a final their response is to fire the coach Don McLachan!!!

Unreal stuff.

Strazdas

Oldira wrote: »

So after Irish Rowing winning their first Olympic medals and getting another crew to a final their response is to fire the coach Don McLachan!!!

Unreal stuff.

Have they been taking their cue from amateur boxing? Seems to be the new trend in Irish sport : sack your successful coaches who are delivering Olympic medals.

Joe_ Public

Hard to know what to think without any details but seems very odd. Purspure is said to be upset and I imagine Lynch and Lambe couldn't be too happy given McLachlan seems to have been instrumental in pairing them together and getting them to Rio in the best possible shape. If the media cares at all, surely they should be asking questions about this?

walshb

Hickey released. And about time.

Rapists and murderers walking the streets on bail and this man banged up like he was Jack the fooking Ripper!

marienbad

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Hard to know what to think without any details but seems very odd. Purspure is said to be upset and I imagine Lynch and Lambe couldn't be too happy given McLachlan seems to have been instrumental in pairing them together and getting them to Rio in the best possible shape. If the media cares at all, surely they should be asking questions about this?

His contract was up and was not renewed , Morten Espersen staying on and Dominic Casey moving up and another high performance coach to be recruited , that seems to be the plan .

daithi7

walshb wrote: »

Hickey released. And about time.

Rapists and murderers walking the streets on bail and this man banged up like he was Jack the fooking Ripper!

Yup, I agree. People should get a grip. I mean I don't like Pat Hockey either, especially after the way he handled the Sonia O'Sullivan affair at the Atlanta games. Firstly, upsetting her by insisting having her tog off in a stadium tunnel full of officials, right before a major final, into the Ireland approved (sponsored) gear, ffs, and worse , after the race, then keeping her in a press conference for hours on end, in a pseudo media 'trial ' into the why best female middle distance athlete in the world was clearly off colour!? I mean talk about a way to make sure she stayed unwell for her second event days later!? It was clear he did not care about the athlete's well being at all. After that event, I always thought Pat Hickey is just a power driven, greedy, political fixer working in sports admin. However that's all he is guilty of really.

In Europe, he would only be facing a slap on the wrist by his sporting body for what he did, maybe leading to a resignation. I don't think anything he's alleged to have done is strictly illegal here?! Does anyone know about this????

Regardless, I think it's rich of the Brazilian authorities, to be organising the televising of his arrest and parading his passport and OCI pass, like trophies, then imprisoning him without trial a security prison to question him for basically inside ticket touting & some profiteering. This is when Rio is one of the most dangerous cities the planet ffs!!?. They should probably get their priorities straight and make their country safer by concentrating more on murderers, rapists and human traffickers than making such a fuss about some OCI insider ticket tout on the take!!!

HeidiHeidi

daithi7 wrote: »

In Europe, he would only be facing a slap on the wrist by the his sporting body for what he did, maybe leading to a resignation. I don't think anything he's alleged to have done is strictly illegal here?! Does anyone know about this????

What does it matter if it's legal or not here? He (allegedly) did his touting in Brazil, where they specifically targeted touting and gouging and made it a criminal offence in advance of hosting the World Cup and Olympics. Fair play to them for following through on it, imo.

Regardless it's rich of the Brazilian authorities, to be organising the televising of his arrest and parading his passport and OCI pass, for basically inside ticket touting & done profiteering, when Rio is one of the most dangerous cities the planet. They should probably get their priorities straight and make their country safer by concentrating more on murderers, rapists and human traffickers than on some OCI ticket tout on the take!!!

From what I've heard, they didn't "organise the televising of his arrest", and the photographing of documents following arrest is common practice over there. Maybe not here, but he didn't (allegedly) commit the offences over here, so again it's irrelevant.

And I'm assuming they didn't shut down whatever police department investigates serious crime in order to solely concentrate on ticket touting. I would imagine they are still working on those cases.

walshb

Bottom line is that if this was a "normal joe soap" in trouble there would be campaigns and online petitions demanding his/her release. There is a real over zealous and hostile reaction from the public, and all because a person of success and responsibility is in a spot of bother. It seems to be society today. Very little concern for those who are in trouble who are in positions of authority. As it stands he has not been formally charged with a crime. I think that is the case, and even if he has, then he deserves the presumption of innocence.

Ticket touting? As old as the fooking hills....If he is guilty then he is a greedy and silly and arrogant man.

dogcat

daithi7 wrote: »

Regardless, I think it's rich of the Brazilian authorities, to be organising the televising of his arrest and parading his passport and OCI pass, like trophies, then imprisoning him without trial a security prison to question him for basically inside ticket touting & some profiteering. This is when Rio is one of the most dangerous cities the planet ffs!!?. They should probably get their priorities straight and make their country safer by concentrating more on murderers, rapists and human traffickers than making such a fuss about some OCI insider ticket tout on the take!!!

It's not as if they're not focusing on the people who commit murder, rape, etc, but it doesn't mean that Hickey should merely be ignored by their police either. It's not as if he would be the only person imprisoned without trial in a security prison.

Joe_ Public

marienbad wrote: »

His contract was up and was not renewed , Morten Espersen staying on and Dominic Casey moving up and another high performance coach to be recruited , that seems to be the plan .

Sure he could have been doing a terrible job for all I know, or maybe his face just didn't fit for whatever reason, just curious to know the underlying factors behind it, is all. If this was a higher profile sport, wouldn't the media be all over something like that?

daithi7

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

What does it matter if it's legal or not here? He (allegedly) did his touting in Brazil, where they specifically targeted touting and gouging and made it a criminal offence in advance of hosting the World Cup and Olympics. Fair play to them for following through on it, imo.



From what I've heard, they didn't "organise the televising of his arrest", and the photographing of documents following arrest is common practice over there. Maybe not here, but he didn't (allegedly) commit the offences over here, so again it's irrelevant.

And I'm assuming they didn't shut down whatever police department investigates serious crime in order to solely concentrate on ticket touting. I would imagine they are still working on those cases.

Well Heidi, how do you think there was a TV camera crew at Pat Hickey's hotel at 6am in the morning?? It had to be a police tip off that had them there (ironically, this probably gets a nice hefty Brown envelop for the tip off from the obliging detective who gave the network the heads up, for their"exclusive")

The parading of the arrested (but yet to be proven guilty) SUSPECT's passport and OCI pass is unedifying and gaudy in the extreme. Whether it's practice over there or not ,I don't care, it's a garish display of trophy captures that the local cops put on to appease the masses there. And that's all it is!!

And finally, I never said they closed down the department's that looks after rapists, murderers and human traffickers, my point was they are expending way too much police, court and official time on a mere OCI insider ticket tout, while they might actually be better concentrating more of that significant effort and resources on the rapists, murderers and human traffickers who are rife in Rio. Brazil is one of the worst p places on the planet for all of those heinous crimes. But no, they prefer their police to be giving gaudy press conferences on ALLEGED OCI ticket touts, for alleged white collar crime, which is really just an official reaction to a deeply unpopular Olympics, that was foistered on an unwilling and poor Brazilian public, who did not want to pay for this unpopular extravaganza, in their struggling second world economy. This arrest & investigation is designed to appease the Brazilian public's ire a little.


P.s. incidentally, the way the Pat Hickey investigation has been handled would be ruled as precluding him from a fair trial, had it happened in Ireland, and he would already be out and home . As Irish authorities (police, etc) would not nearly be allowed to carry out trial by media, like the Brazilian police have crudely engaged in, in this case.

marienbad

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Sure he could have been doing a terrible job for all I know, or maybe his face just didn't fit for whatever reason, just curious to know the underlying factors behind it, is all. If this was a higher profile sport, wouldn't the media be all over something like that?

I actually don't know the reasoning behind it , it does seem a strange time to do it all right .

Strazdas

daithi7 wrote: »

Yup, I agree. People should get a grip. I mean I don't like Pat Hockey either, especially after the way he handled the Sonia O'Sullivan affair at the Atlanta games. Firstly, upsetting her by insisting having her tog off in a stadium tunnel full of officials, right before a major final, into the Ireland approved (sponsored) gear, ffs, and worse , after the race, then keeping her in a press conference for hours on end, in a pseudo media 'trial ' into the why best female middle distance athlete in the world was clearly off colour!? I mean talk about a way to make sure she stayed unwell for her second event days later!? It was clear he did not care about the athlete's well being at all. After that event, I always thought Pat Hickey is just a power driven, greedy, political fixer working in sports admin. However that's all he is guilty of really.

I was reading some interesting stuff recently about how Irish athletes were given poorly fitting clothes for the Opening Ceremony in Sydney in 2000 and how OCI officials marched at the front of the Irish team right behind the flag when it was supposed to the athletes' parade.

Oldira

walshb wrote: »

Bottom line is that if this was a "normal joe soap" in trouble there would be campaigns and online petitions demanding his/her release. There is a real over zealous and hostile reaction from the public, and all because a person of success and responsibility is in a spot of bother. It seems to be society today. Very little concern for those who are in trouble who are in positions of authority. As it stands he has not been formally charged with a crime. I think that is the case, and even if he has, then he deserves the presumption of innocence.

Ticket touting? As old as the fooking hills....If he is guilty then he is a greedy and silly and arrogant man.

All fair points but I think the issue is a lot more serious than mere 'ticket touting'. The sheer amount of tickets involved and the fact that the real issue is not so much the Rio tickets but rather the tickets for London which as we all know, were much more sought after. The (alleged) use of a senior post in Sports administration for personal enrichment is what has people angry. Also the matter of Hickey and his wife flying First Class at a rough cost of €20k while athlethes all flew economy rubs people up the wrong way.
While the alleged offences are minor enough in the grand scheme of things it is not unsurprising that Hickey is less than popular with people.

Chivito550

Oldira wrote: »

All fair points but I think the issue is a lot more serious than mere 'ticket touting'. The sheer amount of tickets involved and the fact that the real issue is not so much the Rio tickets but rather the tickets for London which as we all know, were much more sought after. The (alleged) use of a senior post in Sports administration for personal enrichment is what has people angry. Also the matter of Hickey and his wife flying First Class at a rough cost of €20k while athlethes all flew economy rubs people up the wrong way.
While the alleged offences are minor enough in the grand scheme of things it is not unsurprising that Hickey is less than popular with people.

They also had the Irish team fly home from São Paulo rather than Rio, having to take a 6 hour bus from Rio to SP, while that rat flies in first class. He's a scumbag, no other word to describe him.

walshb

Chivito550 wrote: »

They also had the Irish team fly home from São Paulo rather than Rio, having to take a 6 hour bus from Rio to SP, while that rat flies in first class. He's a scumbag, no other word to describe him.

That's a bit OTT. Sure what's the bloody point of getting to the top and being successful if you fly like a peasant?

stereomatic

Would have been great if this thread was continued as a Paralympics Update Thread

At this moment it's 4 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze

Wins in athletics, cycling and swimming and competitors in equestrian, 7 a side football, sailing and shooting

At the moment race 10 of the 3 Person Sonar Sailing with John Twomey, Austin O'Carroll and Ian Costelloe

Tonight Ellen Keane in the 100 m Back Stroke S9 Final at 21:50

stereomatic

Tomorrow

In Womens Discus Throw F37/38 at 21:36
Noelle Lenihan

Cycling in Mens Individual B Road Race at 17:00
Peter Ryan with pilot Marcin Mizgajski
Damien Vereker with pilot Sean Hahessy

Cycling in Womens Individual B Road Race at 17:05
Katie George Dunlevy with pilot Evelyn McCrystal

3 Person Sonar medal race sailing at 16:05
John Twomey, Austin O'Carroll and Ian Costelloe

Swimming in Womens 100m Free Style S6 in Heat 2 at 13:40
Nicole Turner

Swimming in Mens 100m Free Style S5 in Heat 2 at 14:52
James Scully