Gearing up for Athens

The athletics gear dispute that started in Atlanta with Sonia O'Sullivan being forced to strip in a tunnel, gathered momentum for four years and rolled on to Sydney still unresolved.

The most public dispute between the Athletics Association of Ireland and the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) remains alive. But, according to Pat Hickey, the OCI will seek a solution before the Athen's games in 2004.

"We are very aware of it (the gear issue)," said Hickey at the launch of his presidential campaign. "And we will make sure that the same thing does not happen for Athens as happened at the Sydney games."

"The Adidas contract is finished and the situation now is that we have not yet signed another one. But we haven't tried to sign a new clothing sponsorship. "Most of our sponsorship contracts don't start until the second year into the Olympic cycle. The big push comes towards the end of this year. Then, we are first going to talk to all the federations before we embark on the tender process for a gear supplier, and, after we speak to the federations we will then decide what to do. We are certainly going to seek solutions."

Hickey, who said that his relationship in Sydney with the athletics team manager, Patsy McGonagle, was "excellent," pointed out that there was only "a personality difference between myself and one or two people in the Athletics Association of Ireland."

Hickey went on to add that he welcomed the Athlete's Commission candidate, Olympic javelin thrower Terry McHugh, onto the executive.