Free. Finally. Barring an unlikely disaster scenario, Patrick Hickey should be able to spend the end of year holidays in Ireland, on his land. The former president of the Irish Olympic Committee (OCI) and the Association of European National Committees (EOC), member of the IOC Executive Board, will be able to leave Brazil in the coming days, or even hours. At the bottom of his pocket, his passport.
On Wednesday November 16, 2016, Patrick Hickey learned of the decision of the judicial authorities in Rio de Janeiro to authorize him to return to his country for “medical reasons”. At 71, the Olympic leader suffers from heart problems. He needs treatment. The only condition set by the Brazilian judge: payment of a deposit of 410.000 euros. A formality? Not really.
A few days later, the Irish Olympic Committee, his former home, said it would not pay the bail. “This matter is private, it does not concern the committee,” the organization justified in a press release. A decision that was little expected, the OCI having financed Patrick Hickey's legal fees since his arrest at the Rio Games in mid-August as part of an investigation into Olympic ticket trafficking.
Thursday, December 1, salvation came for Patrick Hickey from another organization, significantly richer and, above all, more supportive of his troubles with the law. The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) announced via a press release that it had decided to pay the Irish leader's bail. A transfer of 410.000 euros must go from Lausanne, headquarters of ANOC, to Rio de Janeiro. Upon receipt, Patrick Hickey will be able to collect his precious passport, pack his trunks and close his apartment in Rio de Janeiro, where he has been under house arrest since the end of August.
Generous, certainly. But, specifies ANOC, the sum in question cannot be a donation. Patrick Hickey was only given a loan. He will have to reimburse the Olympic organization “in full”. When? How? In its press release, ANOC specifies that it cannot, for “legal reasons”, reveal the conditions of the loan.
The decision of ANOC, of which Patrick Hickey was until recently one of the vice-presidents, will surprise no one. The organization repeatedly reiterated its support for the Irish leader last month during its general assembly in Doha, Qatar. Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, its president, is said to be on the initiative of dipping into the ANOC war chest to help Patrick Hickey leave Brazil. But the final decision was taken following a “postal vote” on November 20 in which, in addition to Sheikh Ahmad, all the vice-presidents took part. Nice.
