Brazil’s Globonews channel reported that Hickey had already been detained at his hotel in Rio de Janeiro.
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The OCI said Hickey had complied fully with the terms of a police warrant and would continue to co-operate with any ongoing inquiries.
He sits on the International Olympic Council (IOC) executive board. Police, however, found Hickey’s Olympic accreditation badge on the floor, along with his shoes, socks and bag.
A senior Olympic executive from Ireland was arrested and taken to the hospital Wednesday after police raided his beachfront hotel as part of an investigation into the illegal sale of tickets for the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Here is a closer look at the case.
Hickey heads the Olympic Council of Ireland and serves as president of the European Olympic Committees, an agency that consolidates Europe’s 50 national Olympic committees.
Irish golfer Rory McIlroy also appeared to weigh on Mr Hickey’s arrest yesterday in a post on social media. He joined the ruling executive board four years ago. He was president of the European Olympic Committees as well as president of the Olympic Council of Ireland.
Previous year he opened the first European Games in Baku, which he later described as his “legacy”. Sky News said that Hickey has been charged with conspiracy, ticket scalping and ambush marketing and will be held in custody while investigations are continuing. “In light of this morning’s developments and his ill health, Mr Hickey has taken the decision to step aside temporarily as president of the OCI and all other Olympic functions until this matter is fully resolved”, the OCI said. I presume, and I would hope, that they have sorted out legal counsel for him, but it’s very much at this stage something for the Irish National Olympic Committee and the allegations around it, for them to sort out whether there is any involvement at all with Mr Hickey.
Police say the arrest is related to that of fellow Irish man Kevin Mallon, the director of corporate and sports hospitality company THG sports.
“The OCI strictly adheres to the International Olympic Committee regulations around ticket allocation, sale and re-sale”.
In an interview last week Mr Hickey said there was “no impropriety whatsoever” from himself or anyone in the OCI and the tickets involved in the controversy were issued to Pro 10 Sport Management, the Irish Authorised Ticket Reseller (ATR) for Rio.
THG and PRO10 have denied any wrongdoing over ticket sales.
According to Falcao that was to enable “ticket scalping disguised as hospitality packages”.
Pro 10 said the tickets Mallon had in his possession were held on their behalf for collection by Irish and other European customers who had purchased them at face value, plus a commission.
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Brazilian authorities have also issued warrants for four more executives at THG, including Marcus Evans, who owns its parent company as well as English soccer club Ipswich Town.
