Olympic tickets: Scandal must be cleared up

THE Olympic Council of Ireland finds itself in a murky and sorry mess at the Olympic Games in Rio. 

Following the scandal surrounding the drugs ban imposed on an Irish boxer, the council is under a cloud after two people were arrested on charges of fraudulently selling tickets to the events. Allegedly, the tickets were allocated to the OCI which has now opened an “immediate investigation” into the whole affair.

While no wrongdoing is imputed to members of the OCI, serious questions remain to be answered. For example, how did the Irishman who has been arrested get hold of the tickets? And why is the international sports hospitality company THG Sports, the company for whom he works, defending him so vigorously? It must also be asked if he worked with THG when it handled ticket sales for the London Olympics four years ago and whether or not he had any direct or indirect contact with the OCI?