He was taken to hospital after being detained and was later admitted for the investigation of chest pain.
Advertisement
Patrick Hickey, Europe’s top Olympic official was arrested in Rio on Wednesday morning for being involved in a ticket scalping scheme at the 2016 Olympics.
An OCI statement said he had stepped down temporarily as an International Olympic Committee member, president of the European Olympic Committees, vice-president of the Association of National Olympic Committees and head of the Irish national committee.
Patrick Hickey, 71, is president of the European Olympic Committees and the Olympic Council of Ireland, which said it was seeking “total clarity” before commenting on reports of Hickey’s arrest, which was thought to be connected to the arrest last week of Irish national Kevin James Mallon in what police said was an global ticket scalping ring. PRO10 and THG have denied wrongdoing.
The interim OCI president said he also could not comment on the ticket sales allegations “while the legal case is going on”.
O’Brien confirmed he has taken over the position of president of the OCI.
The ticketing controversy has been ongoing since the beginning of the Rio Games on 7 August, when Irishman Kevin Mallon was arrested on suspicion of ticket touting.
An Irish member of the International Olympic Committee has stepped down after being arrested in Rio over alleged ticket-touting.
International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said Hickey was taken to a local hospital by ambulance at about 7:30 a.m.
Irish sports minister Shane Ross announced that he was cutting his trip to the Rio Olympics to try and deal with the fall-out.
“Given the seriousness of this matter, and in the interests of taking swift and decisive action, I will be returning to Dublin as quickly as possible”, Ross said.
Police said that only Hickey was in Brazil, while the other three did not travel to the country for the Games and were considered “fugitives”.
Al Jazeera’s Joanna Gasiorowska, reporting from Rio de Janeiro, said the “most serious” charge against Hickey is “forming a cartel” to sell the tickets.
After those arrests, the OCI said it would investigate why some of its tickets were in their possession.
He said that then he was “absolutely shattered” by Mr Hickey’s attitude.
Hickey is a former Irish judo athlete.
Hickey had previously said that there was “no impropriety whatsoever from anyone in the OCI or myself in the dealing of tickets”.
Advertisement
Mallon is an executive at sports hospitality company THG Sports which was the OCI’s authorized ticket reseller for the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.
