Pat Hickey

Biographical information

RolesAdministrator
SexMale
Full namePatrick Joseph "Pat"•Hickey
Used namePat•Hickey
Born17 June 1945 in Dublin, Dublin (IRL)
NOC Ireland

Biography

Pat Hickey’s career was in real estate where he became the director of a property management company. As a youth he participated in several sports, including judo, football (soccer), squash, tennis, and golf. He earned a black belt in judo and represented Ireland internationally as a judoka.

Hickey’s work in sports administration also started in judo, eventually becoming President of the Irish Judo Association, and he was later named as Honorary Life President. He served as President of the Olympic Council of Ireland from 1989-2017, and worked with both the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), serving as senior vice-president of ANOC from 2006-16. With the EOC, he was vice-president from 1997-2001, secretary-general from 2001-06, and President from 2006-17.

Hickey was co-opted onto the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1995. He was a member of the Executive Board from 2012-16, and served on several commissions, including: Marketing (1996, 2002-18), Olympic Solidarity (1996-2017), IOC 2000 (1999), Olympic Games Study (2002-03), 2009 Congress (2006-09), Coordination for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad Rio 2016 (2010-16), Public Affairs and Social Development through Sport (2015-18), and as a Delegate Member for Autonomy (2014).

At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics Hickey was arrested during the Games in an investigation into the alleged illegal re-sale of Olympic tickets. He denied wrongdoing but was detained in Brazil after the Games ended, and he stepped aside temporarily from his Olympic positions. He received his passport back in November 2016 and was allowed to return to Ireland after paying a bond, which was loaned to him by ANOC. In November 2017 the Brazilian Supreme Court suspended the case against Hickey and several others. Hickey remained a member of the IOC into 2022 and resumed his work in Olympic-related activity, although he resigned in December 2022, citing health issues as the reason.

Organization roles

Role Organization Tenure NOC As
President Olympic Federation of Ireland 1989—2017 IRL Pat Hickey
Member International Olympic Committee 1995—2022 IRL Pat Hickey
President European Olympic Committees 2006—2016 IRL Pat Hickey
Executive Board NOC Representative International Olympic Committee 2012—2016 IRL Pat Hickey

Special Notes