Treacy goes it alone to Games

JOHN TREACY has made his own arrangements to attend the Olympics in Beijing as the Irish Sports Council (ISC) moved to stave off any confrontation with the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) on the eve of the Games.

The fact that the 1984 Olympic silver medallist, now ISC chief executive, was not offered accreditation for this year’s Games is regarded by some as an indication of the uneasy relationship that exists between Treacy and OCI President Pat Hickey.

That’s despite the fact that Hickey publicly thanked the ISC for their role in preparing and funding the athletes throughout the Olympic cycle — insisting they had a good working relationship — when he welcomed John Treacy and other representatives of the ISC to the Olympic team launch in Dublin a couple of weeks ago.

Treacy was not granted accreditation for the Sydney Olympics either but then Sports Minister Jim McDaid, gave him one of the accreditations allocated for his team.

Treacy was accredited for the Athens Olympics four years later, leading to speculation that relationships had improved, so it came as a surprise when it emerged that he would not be accredited for Beijing.

Last month Hickey wrote to Treacy telling him that during the Beijing Games, the OCI would like to invite him to some of the events and functions, asking him for dates when he’d be attending in order to make the necessary arrangements.

When the issue of accreditation was raised, the ISC was informed that Sports Minister, Martin Cullen, was getting four accreditations.

When Mr Cullen, who is due to arrive in Beijing today to be present at Friday’s opening ceremony, offered an accreditation to Treacy, it’s understood he declined, pointing out that he had made his own arrangements to attend the Games.

Treacy, along with the chairman of the ISC, Ossie Kilkenny, and Finbarr Kirwan, the ISC’s High Performance Manager, who has also co-chaired the Olympic performance committee, will travel together to Beijing next weekend. None of them have got accreditation from the OCI.

Paul McDermott, spokesman for the Irish Sports Council, said it was never their intention that the matter should enter the public domain.

“The last thing we want is some type of controversy on the eve of the Olympics when the focus should be on our athletes and their performances in Beijing,” he said.

Meanwhile the smog returned to Beijing with a vengeance yesterday, with visibility reduced to around 500m at 6pm.

But there could be worse to come, with rain and thunderstorms forecast for the latter part of the week threatening to cause havoc with the opening ceremony.

The long range forecast provides a pretty grim insight of what could lie ahead but it has been played down somewhat by the deputy director of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, Wang Jianjie.

“We may see a cloudy sky on August 8, and will probably also meet scattered showers or thunderstorms,” she said. “The highest temperature may be between 30 and 32C.”

She would not give details of exactly where they expected the rain and the thunderstorms to hit but she revealed that they were working on contingency plans to reduce, delay or even bring forward the rainfall if necessary before it reaches the National Stadium.

A sudden downpour ruined the fireworks display at the outdoor rehearsal for the opening ceremony last Thursday.

Zhang Qiang, a Beijing weather modification expert, said those particular thunderstorms were beyond control but said her team will be able to control rainfalls of less than 10mm should they occur.

Cannons have been prepared to disperse natural rains or produce artificial rains to reduce temperatures when there are enough clouds.