Photos have emerged of the moment Irish and European Olympic chief Pat Hickey was arrested - in his dressing gown. Above, pictured (in blue shirt, left) yesterday with Ireland's silver medal winner in sailing Annalise Murphy and Minister for Sport Shane Ross.
With the Olympic Council of Ireland having been embroiled in controversy since an Irishman was arrested in Brazil with 800 tickets for Olympic events, the head of the organisation has now been detained as part of the same investigation.
Pat Hickey - who is president of the Olympic Council of Ireland and also head of the European Olympic Committees - was arrested when police called to his hotel room in Rio this morning.
And now photos have emerged of Mr Hickey in his dressing gown looking stunned as he is being spoken to the Brazilian police during his arrest.
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The 71-year-old has been detained as part of the inquiry into alleged ticket sales, with Minister for Sport Shane Ross saying he was shell-shocked at the development.
Both men had clashed in recent days when Mr Hickey said the OCI could not agree to Mr Ross's suggestion that an independent person take part in the OCI's inquiry into the alleged illegal selling of Olympic tickets issued to Ireland.
A dressing down in your dressing gown: https://t.co/kMxeVbydr2 #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/XEVgj02Ixk
— Luke O'Riordan (@luke_oriordan) August 17, 2016
Shell shock here in Rio
— Shane Ross (@Shane_RossTD) August 17, 2016
Police in Brazil had already arrested Irishman Kevin James Mallon on the day of the opening ceremony and confiscated 800 tickets that police suspect were to be sold for up to €7,500 each.
Mr Mallon is a director of the sports hospitality company THG Sports.
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It has said he was not selling the tickets but was instead holding them for the authorised Irish ticket seller Pro 10 Management.
The Olympic Council of Ireland, which Mr Hickey leads, released a statement last week saying none of its personnel were under suspicion.
"There is absolutely no suggestion of misconduct or impropriety by the OCI or any of its staff," the statement of August 12th said.
A Brazilian official with the accreditation badge of Pat Hickey after he was arrested in his dressing gown, below, at the Rio Olympics.
The Olympic Council of Ireland statement in recent days continued: "The OCI strictly adheres to the IOC regulations around ticket allocation, sale and re-sale."
The OCI's statement of last weekend continued: "The OCI took immediate action as soon as we learned through local media reports that some of the tickets seized in the police operation appear to have come from the official OCI allocation.
"With the approval of the OCI Executive Board, we have established a three-man investigatory panel comprising OCI Vice President William O’Brien, OCI Secretary General Dermot Henihan and OCI’s Chief Counsel Barry MacCarthy.
"Their terms of reference are to investigate how part of the OCI’s ticket allocation came to be in the possession of other third party sellers.
"The OCI has written to the Rio 2016 Organising Committee to request that they share all available information on the matter as soon as it becomes available.
"We have also written to the IOC recommending that, should any evidence of misconduct be uncovered on the part of any ATR, their status as an ATR should be reviewed as a matter of urgency."
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