Maybe Hickey’s only crime is that he outstayed his welcome

NOW that the Olympic Games are over for another four years (how Tokyo must be brimming with excitement in anticipation of 2020) it’s impossible not to be left with an abiding image: the five-ringed circus pacing up and leaving town on Monday morning, leaving behind the one man who would have expected to be in the lead caravan, Pat Hickey.

Rio 2016 has been as a bizarre and memorable Olympic Games as there ever has been - from Bolt’s treble-treble to Phelps’ aquatic feats, from the O’Donovans pulling like dogs to Michael O’Reilly’s failed drugs test, from corrupt boxing judges to green swimming pools - but the arrest of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) President Pat Hickey - also a member of the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) - has been Rio’s GUBU moment.

As you read this on Wednesday morning Hickey, who was arrested a week ago on suspicion of involvement in ticket touting, may or may not have been released on bail from Bangu prison in Rio de Janeiro, though the likelihood is that he remains incarcerated as the Brazilian authorities continue their investigations.

It goes without saying that Hickey - who denied any wrong-doing - is entitled to the presumption of innocence, but it’s telling that there is little or no sympathy for the 71-year old who has been OCI President since 1989.

Even if Hickey is cleared of any involvement in what might or might not illegal ticket touting, it seems there are plenty of people quietly pleased to see the man get some sore of comeuppance.

Never slow to issue legal writs to members of the media if he felt he was slighted in any way, a picture has emerged in the last week of a man who has trodden on many toes on his way up the Olympic ladder.

There is a tactic acknowledgment in some quarters that Hickey has done some good for the Olympic cause in Ireland, but the over-riding picture is of a man who craves power at the expense of the very sports people the OCI should be helping, and that he has bullied his way to the top and intimidated people to remain their for the best part of 30 years.

There’s no doubt that Hickey has shown himself to be an able administrator and very astute at playing the political game all to necessary at the very top end of international sport, but it seems the Dubliner hasn’t made too many friends on the way up. Indeed, as he now resides in a Rio prison his enemies, opponents and victims seem only too happy to come out and administer a kick or two on his way back down.

Pat Hickey may not be guilty of anything involving the illegal sale of OCI tickets in Rio, and his arrest and detention might prove to be totally unwarranted, and a ignominious end to a lifetime of service to sport.

But perhaps the key point is this: should Pat Hickey have been in Rio at all in an official capacity with the OCI or IOC?

Hickey has been OCI President since 1989, which is an absurd length of time to hold such an office. Without there ever being any question of impropriety over Hickey, surely 27 years is much too long for the same person to hold such an office, notwithstanding he has been re-elected in the meantime.

Surely a term-limit should apply to such a position, as it does for GAA Presidents, County Board Chairmen and, as is now the case, FIFA presidents.

Sports administrators might do great work over a great many years in a specific role, but there’s always the danger that they get too comfortable in that role and, as perhaps is the case with Pat Hickey and the OCI, they wield their accumulated power to keep others at bay simply because they’ve become too intoxicated by the power and prestige of their standing.

Perhaps Hickey’s greatest and only crime is that he stayed on too long. If he is guilty of nothing in Rio then it’s a sad, ignominious end to what has been a long career in Irish sport.

But in keeping a tight hold on the reins of power at the OCI Hickey made more enemies than friends, and it’s clear that the lack of any athletes - past or present - coming to his defence now, or to offer any positive character reference - suggests he is, at best, an unpopular man.

Rio has been a truly memorable Olympic Games, for good and ill, but from Ireland’s point of view the arrest of Hickey will - sadly - overshadow everything else, especially the silver medals of the O’Donovan brothers from Skibbereen in the rowing and of Annalise Murphy in the sailing.

It’s somewhat ironic that Ireland’s only medals came from people who travelled across the water in sea-faring vessels, while the man who behaved like he could walk on water is now drowning in a sea of suspicion and controversy and humiliation.

Right now the OCI’s rings are tarnished by this sordid mess. Whatever about what the future holds for Pat Hickey, the next President of the OCI and his or her successors should be given a four or five-year term at most.

The Olympic Games remain a circus - an enjoyable one, but not one to be taken seriously but the ringmasters should be moved on with regularity before they turn into clowns.

This whole mess would be funny if it wasn’t so damn serious.