OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST Sonia O’Sullivan will be the first person to bring the Olympic torch through Dublin, organisers revealed tonight.
Pat Hickey, Olympic Council of Ireland chief, told RTÉ news this evening that the Cobh woman would have the honour of being the first torchbearer into the capital, when the relay comes south of the border in June.
The Summer Games take place in London the following month.
Hickey also revealed that Barcelona ’92 medal heroes, boxers Michael Carruth and Wayne McCullough, would pass the torch over the border.
Under IOC rules, the torch relay is not usually allowed to travel outside of the host nation in the build-up to the Games. However, a formal derogation was granted to recognise the fact that the Irish Olympic team represents all 32 counties.
“It is the culmination of a dream,” Hickey said after IOC lobbying secured the relay in December. “This is the nearest thing which Ireland will ever have to hosting the Olympics themselves.”
No one from the Olympic Council of Ireland was immediately available for comment tonight.
