Swim Ireland CEO Sarah Keane has been named the new president of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) – Ireland’s Olympic committee – after a vote was held in Dublin on Thursday.
Speaking after tonight’s election result Keane commented “I feel humbled and privileged to have been elected as President of the OCI this evening. I am grateful for the support and confidence shown to me by the Olympic Sports Federations and I look forward to working with them the other newly elected officers and Executive Committee members to reform and rebuild the OCI after what has been a very difficult few months for the Olympic movement in Ireland. I would also like to thank the Swim Ireland Chair Clare McGrath, the Board and Staff for all their support over the last few months”
Keane takes the place of the embattled Pat Hickey, a former member of the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who was arrested at the Rio Olympics in a ticket-scalping scandal. The 71-year old Hickey was released on a R$1.5 million (€410,000, $480,000) bond. Hickey, his alleged accomplice Kevin Mallon, and 8 other men have been charged with criminal organization, ticket touting, ambush marketing, larceny, money laundering, and tax evasion.
The co-defendants are co-defendants Michael Glynn, Ken Murray, Eamonn Collins, Maarten Van Os, David Patrick Gilmore, Martin Studd, and Barbara Zancope Carnieri.
The trials are expected to begin early this year in Brazil.
Keane became the first-ever CEO of Swim Ireland in 2004 (after some legal wrangling that included a court injunction). She was a former member of the Irish national water polo team and after her athletic career ended worked as an associate partner with law firm Matheson Solicitors. She has an honours degree in Law, a masters degree in Commercial Law, and undergraduate degrees in corporate and financial management.
Among the issues she tackled as CEO of the organization was the litigation relating to child abuse scandals.
In August of 2014, she was elected to the board of the OCI.
“I am committed to working with the new Executive Committee and staff of the OCI to put in place administration and governance structures that are fit for purpose and best in class, to ensure an athlete centred approach in respect of all that we do and ultimately, that the OCI plays its part in enhancing the future development of sport in Ireland and represents the country well on the world stage,” Keane said of her new role. “Some of the required changes will take some time as there are steps that have to be taken in order to facilitate the governance changes. I do, however, hope to call a meeting of the new Executive Committee in the next few days and with their input, agree a timetable for change. It is not appropriate for me to comment any further until the Executive Committee has met. I would ask for your patience and understanding in that regard. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish Willie O’Brien and all the members of the outgoing Executive Committee well.”
Ireland sent 3 swimmers to the 2016 Olympic Games: Nicholas Quinn, Fiona Doyle, and American-born Shane Ryan, who advanced to the semi-finals of the 100 back and finished 16th. Ryan, who spent most of his young life in the United States, renounced his American sporting citizenship to spend the year training in Ireland and earn the right to represent the nation at the Olympics.
Oliver Dingley also became Ireland’s first diver at the Olympics from 1948, and he finished 8th in the 3m springboard event. Dingley, like Ryan, was an import, in his case from the United Kingdom.
One of her final moves as CEO was to bring in a new national high performance coaching staff, led by Jon Rudd and John Watson.
