February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Mark Jones
DUBLIN — The Olympic Council of Ireland and the newly formed Athletics Association of Ireland came to figurative blows last week when the OCI refused to grant the track and field body voting rights at the its annual general meeting.
OCI officials claimed that BLE, one of the members of the new athletics association, had let its Olympic affiliation slip, and in the end, no athletics’ administrators attended the annual general meeting.
The OCI’s president, Pat Hickey, laid the blame for the breakdown in relations at the door of the BLE and criticized the BLE for its "ineptitude" in letting its Olympic affiliation slip.
Relations between the OCI and the BLE have been strained since the Atlanta Olympics when both organizations had separate clothing sponsorship deals. OCI wanted all Irish competitors to wear its sponsors clothing, while the BLE insisted on its own arrangement.
The row came to a head over what gear Sonia O’Sullivan should have worn on the track and that dispute is still festering.
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Now the OCI is apparently angry at its lack of involvement in the merger talks between the BLE and the country’s two other athletic federations. However, BLE contend that the talks were purely a matter for athletics and they were none of the OCI’s business.