BOBSLEIGHERS IN COLD SWEAT

WHILE the Irish women’s bobsleigh team continue to sweat over whether or not they will be able to compete in the Winter Olympics, it seems Irish fans are intent to on having a party regardless.

Angry Vancouver residents have complained Irish revellers are too noisy and are causing a bit of a ruckus in the run-up to the games.

Police have reportedly been receiving a steady stream of calls from bleary-eyed locals complaining that Irish fans were carousing too loud and too late.

Locals complained they can hardly sleep at night and fear even more noise from the Irish House hospitality tent once the 2010 Games officially get under way today. Many of the complaints have been directed towards Doolin’s, a popular Irish pub.

One resident complained on a Flickr webpage that the hotspot was “essentially a giant pub under a thin sheet of plastic with ridiculously loud live bands”.

Another resident, Erin Hudson, told The Province newspaper that the music hadn’t stopped until after 2am and that it was “all anybody was talking about in the morning”.

Chief licensing inspector for the city Barbara Windsor said there had been more than 25 complaints to authorities over the level of noise revellers were causing.

Ms Windsor said the venue had agreed to turn down the volume, which will presumably come as a disappointment to many fans enjoying the run-up to the Winter Olympics.

Even though Ireland have a team of just six taking part, as a nation, it seems, we are determined to make our mark on the Games in a wider social sense.

Meanwhile, Olympic Council of Ireland president Pat Hickey has insisted the bobsleigh team will definitely compete in the Games.

The team of Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin has already fought off a threat from Australia to their place in Vancouver with an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

They are currently facing down a challenge from Brazil, who are demanding to also be included in the event.

“The president and the executive committee of the International Olympic Committee took the decision to add an extra team (Australia) and in the wording they confirmed that both Australia and Ireland were definitely now in the Olympic Games,” Mr Hickey told RTÉ.