To strains of Taimse i mo choladh, Michael Morris, Third Lord Killanin, was laid to rest in the family vault at Galway's Bohermore Cemetery yesterday. Earlier, at a simple bilingual prayer ceremony in St Enda's Church, Spiddal, where the former president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) spent his childhood, mourners heard tributes to a "good and great man". Father Tomas O Cadhain, parish priest, said he admired his "patient stubbornness" during the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which Lord Killanin is credited with saving after US threats of retaliation over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Also present to comfort Lady Killanin, her four children and grandchildren were Mr Bobby Molloy, Minister of State, Mr Michael D. Higgins TD, Mr Pat Hickey, president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, and members of the council.
