Candidates confident of securing victory

The gap appears to be narrowing in the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) presidental race between incumbent Pat Hickey and sailing's Richard Burrows. News from the Burrows camp is that the proletarian guard of Pat Hickey's OCI 10vote executive could yet come under pressure. Tonight 37 votes will be cast in Jury's Hotel, Dublin from 10 executive members and 27 sports federations. Hickey has traditionally enjoyed the complete loyalty of the OCI's executive committee.

Yesterday, however, the cycling federation threw their hat into the Burrows camp. The defection will now focus attention on the possible knock-on effect and whether pressure will build on Bank of Ireland official Billy Kennedy, a cycling man all of his life and a reliable executive vote for Hickey.

On Tuesday basketball also backed Burrows while on Monday Hickey declined to go on RTE's Mariane Finucane show because the election, he claimed, was already in the bag. That declaration landed on the table at the same time as Hickey's sport, judo, performed ippon on their man and jumped with Burrows.

Hickey, though, has held a poker face. His political base has always seen him through tough times, although, yesterday's endorsement of Burrows by former Olympians Michael Carruth, Eamon Coghlan and Mick Dowling may well have hurt. At the very least public perception of the schism will have increased.

"We would like to give our full support to the Athlete's Commission endorsement and approval of Richard Burrows for the position of president of the Olympic Council of Ireland," said the statement.

"It is our view that the present Olympic Committee is in urgent need of change . . . We believe Richard Burrows has identified correctly that the Olympic Council is here to serve athletes rather than the other way round. We would urge any federation that is thinking of supporting the present regime to think again and consider what is right for Irish sport and Irish athletes. "We were extremely shocked to read a statement by Pat Hickey saying that he `only met the Athletes out of courtesy'. This is not an acceptable statement from the president of the National Olympic Committee," said the statement.

The OCI claims Hickey was misquoted adding that they "do not see the statement as impacting on the result of the election".

But behind the spinning from both sides, there is growing reason to believe that Burrows' softly, softly style has been able to grind out federation votes as ably as Hickey's ruck and maul.

In the different approaches and personalities, the two candidates are polarised. Both camps have emphasised those differences and used them to build their own cases. Hickey opened with Burrows' office in Paris being too distant from the theatre of action, while Burrows replied with corporate Ireland's "nervousness" about the current "undemocratic" regime and the disfiguring public disputes.

The fact Burrows urges greater co-operation with the Irish Sports Council has been used by Hickey as evidence of the erosion of OCI autonomy while Burrows' emphasis on the lack of transparent structures and the way the OCI carries out funding implies that its instinct is to always go solo, tell few and never admit mistakes.

Burrows does not see the necessity for an executive with a 10vote block except to perpetuate the shelf-life of that same group of executives while Hickey, as the engineer of that very system, supports it. They both see athletes as central to the future but this week the athletes, at a meeting in Dublin Airport, informed Hickey that in the light of the damning Sydney Review, they would not support him. The question now is will federations listen to the athletes and if they do not then who and what do the federations represent?

The rancor between the OCI and Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Jim McDaid (and before him Bernard Allen), the Irish Sports Council and the Athletics Association of Ireland has festered since before Atlanta in 1996. That dispute intermittently climaxed from Sonia O'Sullivan's forced gear change in a tunnel in Atlanta to when Minister McDaid was refused Olympic accreditation for his entire party in Sydney last year.

In that respect some see Hickey's willingness to confront ministers and other figures of authority as his attraction. To his supporters he is a tyro, a can-do outcast whose words and actions refreshingly represent those of the weak man as much as the strong. To his detractors he has compromised athletes and sponsorship, nurtured a culture of cronyism and through a mix of crude methodology and sleight of hand has embarrassed Irish sport at home and abroad.

"I believe that the federations have agreed with me that they don't want a two-tier OCI of haves and have nots," he said yesterday. "I believe that they want an OCI that will be an independent voice for sport, one that works in harmony with the government and other bodies, yet is unafraid to stand up for the rights of sports, large and small. I am quite confident of winning the election."

Burrows, stereotyped by the opposition as the bluechip businessman who would prefer to employ his mobile than roll up his sleeves, has had to assure federations that his burgeoning business status is no obstacle to equanimity among all federations. Hickey has astutely put the doubt in the minds of smaller sports and Burrows has had to spend time deconstructing it, which it appears, he has done with significant success.

Both candidates understand how to work a room, Burrows with sidestep and understatement, Hickey with backslap and anecdotes. It is with those skills Burrows will, even today, have to move mountains and shore up the nerves of those sports who wish to see change, with Hickey urging his team to lash themselves to the masts if necessary.

"The ground swell for change has gathered considerable momentum over the last three days," said Burrows yesterday. "Judo has endorsed me, cycling has endorsed me and three of our most senior Olympians have endorsed me. I am confident that the federations will recognise this and come on board when the voting takes place tonight."