Bobsleigh pair likely to get the go ahead

WINTER OLYMPICS:THE OLYMPIC Council of Ireland (OCI) is confident the latest challenge to the Irish women's bobsleigh team's participation in the Winter Olympics, which gets under way in Vancouver tomorrow night, has come too late to deny them a place in the starting line-up.

In another complicated legal challenge, the Brazilian team yesterday appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) to give them a place in the event, citing conflicts in the way the Irish team had qualified.

This followed an Australian challenge last weekend, which was finally resolved on Tuesday night, when Cas ruled that both Ireland and Australia would be allowed compete – the only compromise that was seen as acceptable to both national Olympic Committees. The Australians thus became the 21st team to qualify.

On hearing this, Brazil submited their appeal, even though they had failed in making the same case to the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation (FIBT).

Cas will hear this case today, with the Brazilians arguing that they adhered to the qualifying criteria, while at the same time questioning the qualification of the Irish team, who they claim only completed part of their qualification late on in World Cup events.

However, given the Cas ruling on Tuesday, it would be highly unlikely the Irish team of Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin will be ejected.

If Cas now agrees to allow the Brazilians enter ahead of the Irish then they’ll be effectively overriding their own ruling – and clearly the issue throughout has been a problem in the wording and criteria of the qualification system implemented by the FIBT.

In the meantime the OCI have announced that Hoey, the pilot in the bobsleigh, will carry the Irish flag in tomorrow night’s opening ceremony. It’s unlikely the latest challenge to Cas will be completed by then, but it would be unprecedented and bizarre if a national flag-bearer were then ejected from the competition, before he or she gets to compete.