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Europe’s top Olympic official arrested in Rio ticketing probe

Mr Hickey, from Dublin, has also stepped aside from his positions as the International Olympic Committee member in Ireland, president of the European Olympic Committees and vice president of the Association of National Olympic Committees.

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Hickey was a member of the IOC’s coordination commission for the Rio Games, the body in charge of overseeing preparations for the first Olympics held in South America.

“We will fully cooperate with the police investigation if there is one”, Adams said.

“We will vigourously defend our reputation and will contest fully any of these unsubstantiated and false allegations”.

Mr Hickey had previously denied any wrongdoing in the OCI’s role in securing or using an authorised ticket reseller for the Games.

He is also president of the European Olympic Committees.

Ticket touting is illegal in Brazil and police and prosecutors have been cracking down on the practice since the country has hosted the globe’s two biggest sporting events, the 2014 World Cup and now the Olympics. Some of the tickets had the Olympic Council of Ireland name on them.

The Irishman was found naked when officers knocked on his son’s hotel room door after Mr Hickey’s wife told police he had left for Ireland.

However, police found Hickey’s Olympic accreditation badge on the floor, along with his shoes, socks and bag.

Hickey was filmed Thursday being taken out of the hospital in a wheelchair. There was no immediate word on his condition.

City police acted to “carry out an arrest warrant and search warrant against Patrick Joseph Hickey, from Ireland, a member of the International Olympic Committee”, police said in a statement.

An Irish executive was arrested last week in the same investigation and four other executives are wanted in the probe.

THG has rejected the accusations against the company and Mallon, saying that more than 1,000 tickets seized by police were being held legally on behalf of PRO10 and criticizing local Olympic organizers.

Brazilian prosecutors issued warrants for Hickey and other figures including Marcus Evans, a British hospitality businessman and owner of English Championship football club Ipswich.

Kevin Mallon, a director of THG Sports, which specialises in corporate and sports hospitality, has been in custody in Brazil since 5 August.

The RTÉ Sport pundit said she hopes there will be full investigations into the ticketing scandal that has seen OCI President Pat Hickey step aside.

Hickey’s arrest follows earlier operations by police against what they say is an worldwide ticket scalping ring.

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“The allegation that a portion of the OCI’s family and friends tickets were being made available by PRO10 for general sale is utterly untrue and completely without any foundation”, the company said. “We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness”, the council said at the time.

President of the Olympic Council of Ireland Pat Hickey