(ATR) For the first time since his arrest at the Rio Olympics last August, Patrick Hickey is speaking on the record about the experience.
Hickey was interviewed by Paul Williams on Dublin radio station NewsTalk.com, a portion of which aired Wednesday morning.
"I was portrayed as some sort of a world-class criminal that I was in some mafiosa conspiracy or something like that," Hickey says, rejecting the charges he faces in Brazil and critics in Ireland.
"Humiliating" is how he describes his arrest at dawn in the final week of the Rio Games. Dressed in a bath robe, he answered the door to his room at the hotel for IOC members, Brazilian police flanked by TV news cameras. Hickey says he believes the police were paid to allow the TV cameras to tag along.
Hickey was charged with breaking Brazilian law in the sale of tickets to the Rio Olympics that were allocated to the Olympic Council of Ireland.
Hickey denies the charges. In the interview he says he's considering whether to file legal actions in Ireland over accusations he says are wrong.
Shortly after his arrest and imprisonment Hickey self-suspended his IOC membership and his presidency of the Olympic Council of Ireland. Since then a new president has been elected to take his place at the OCI. Hickey was held in prison for two weeks until granted release under house arrest. Last December, Brazilian authorities allowed Hickey to return to Ireland after a $400,000 bond was posted.
He received treatment for a heart ailment when he returned. Hickey celebrated his 72nd birthday earlier this month.
The IOC has maintained that Hickey should be given the presumption of innocence as he awaits adjudication, a process that might not finish this year.
"The International Olympic Committee are fully backing me and fully supporting me in this crazy situation that I find myself in," Hickey says.
To hear the complete interview with Hickey, click here.
Written by Ed Hula.
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