Sonia O’Sullivan is one of Ireland’s national sporting heroes but she is damaging her legacy with continued commentary on the crisis at the Olympic Council of Ireland that betrays a lack of awareness on the very governance issues which are in the spotlight.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio yesterday she spoke once again of the fact she was on the Board in order to stay connected to sport but without a real interest or awareness of the matters of Governance which are the reason for boards to exist.
She said that at no point was the Board privy to or in discussion about ticketing for the Olympic Games.
Strange
The Olympic Council of Ireland is a strange entity in that it is the Irish arm of a major international body but with little direct connection to the sports it enable to participate in Olympic events.
Basketball Ireland CEO Bernard O’Byrne raised a series of pertinent questions around how the Council was being managed in the current period and how it had reached decisions that have cast a shadow over the whole of Irish sport.
He was pushed back to the conclusion of the internal investigations currently under way.
He, and the many others in Irish sport of like mind, are likely then to be bemused or angered by hearing O’Sullivan’s admission of non engagement with matters that should have been the responsibility of the board being aired on the national broadcaster.
It is really not enough to say that it was never discussed. The role of the Board, led and guided for the most part by the CEO and Chair or in this case President, is to oversee the operation of the company, to push in the right direction when needed and to bring back on the right path when decisions are needed that require a broader overall perspective.
Bizarre
Even if there simply to represent athletes, surely the question of tickets for family members must have been raised. It is bizarre that even at this level no discussion then arose on the background to ticketing, to who and how it was managed.
Leaked documents to national newspapers and public commentary on matters that should be part of the investigation on governance make that process more and more difficult.
That genuine questions enabling individual sports to answer pertinent questions being asked by their own members are at the same time being pushed to the sidelines makes it an even more unedifying spectacle.
Sonia O’Sullivan deserves great respect as an athlete. As an ambassador for sport and fitness she is one of the most influential characters in Irish sport.
She could and should though step back in the short term from public articles and interviews that raise more questions than ever about the governance of the OCI of which she should have been a part.
