Say what you want about Ireland’s participation in the Rio Games but it hasn’t been dull.
Pat Hickey’s arrest in Rio in the early hours of Wednesday morning was the most dramatic event so far of an Olympics that began with Michael O’Reilly failed drugs test, took a wild veer left last week with the arrest of an Irishman over the alleged illegal resale of tickets designed for the Olympic Committee of Ireland, and reached a crescendo yesterday with Michael Conlan’s blunt and open accusation of corruption in the amateur boxing system.
BREAKING: Reports from Brazil claim that Pat Hickey has been arrested in Rio https://t.co/5VNBSlKLd2
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 17, 2016
And now it appears that Rory McIroy has (briefly) weighed in in the wake of Hickey’s arrest with a tweet, which he quickly deleted, which simply said ‘#karma’.
Unsurprisingly, given the timing, the cryptic nature of the tweet, the fact that it was deleted and McIlroy’s shall we say ‘complicated’ relationship with the Irish team at the Rio Games, many are putting two and two together and assuming that the tweet was directed at Hickey’s predicament.
Rory McIlroy has thought better of his Buddhist take on today's twist in Irish sports politics & has deleted this pic.twitter.com/7YltBeXTFa
— Matt Slater (@mjshrimper) August 17, 2016
Rory McIlroy tweets "#karma" and then quickly deletes it again. He couldn't be referring to the boul Pat, could he?
— Cahair O'Kane (@CahairOKane1) August 17, 2016
McIlroy even liked a tweet speculating that his message was intended for Hickey.
This would be a “yes” then (Yes, this like is from McIlroy)@ballsdotie pic.twitter.com/bYYZYA8Zsg
— Redmond Shannon (@RedShannon) August 17, 2016
Hickey had previously spoken about Nike’s failure to sponsor the Irish team’s kit in Rio and said that they were ‘furious’ to have allowed, in theory, their golden boy in McIlroy wear another’s brand’s clothing at the Games.
“Before Rory decided whether he’d declare for Team GB or Ireland we put our team gear out to contract,” Hickey said at an event in Dublin 100 days out from the Games.
“Just in case he declared for us, we went to Nike in the UK and told them we might have Rory. But they just dismissed us out of hand and now they regret it, I believe.
“I’m told the Nike guys nearly collapsed when they heard what happened and that they’d missed a golden opportunity. Rory’s agent came to us and said, ‘What about Nike?’ And I said, ‘What about them? They had the opportunity and they missed it.'”
McIlroy subsequently pulled out of the Games, citing fears over the Zika virus.
