The Olympic Council of Ireland was given 844 extra tickets for the Olympics "after Pat Hickey directly appealed" to the head of the IOC to "increase the amount it was originally allocated," according to Ziegler & Rogan of the LONDON TIMES. IOC President Thomas Bach "partially granted" Hickey’s wishlist for 980 tickets for the "most sought-after events following a request by text message" in July '15. Documents obtained by ZDF reveal that two weeks after the text was sent, Rio organizers "provided 844 extra tickets at the request of the IOC, taking Ireland's total allocation to 2,366." They included tickets for football and beach volleyball -- "though Ireland did not have a team in those competitions -- as well as the opening and closing ceremonies." Hickey, 71, was arrested in his hotel during the Rio Games after Brazilian police said that "he had plotted with businessmen to transfer tickets illegally from Pro 10, a sports company, to the hospitality provider THG Sports." An email sent by Hickey to Marcus Evans, the owner of League Championship side Ipswich Town who runs THG, on the eve of the opening ceremony "appears to authorise" Evans to use tickets from Ireland's allocation (LONDON TIMES, 2/4).
