Sonia O’Sullivan will not be putting herself forward for February’s nominations for the executive committee of the OCI, citing a lack of “clear direction” in her role as one of the reasons.
In her Irish Times column today, O’Sullivan said she felt she had “no clear direction, or pathway, unlike when I was first elected in 2008.”
In 2010 O’Sullivan become chef de mission for Team Ireland ahead of the London Olympics and was then re-elected to the executive committee in 2014.
The Cobh athlete said it was “deeply satisfying” to help athletes “be the best they can be” in the build up to London 2012.
However, since the 2014 re-election O’Sullivan said that she has questioned her role within the OCI – especially in the lead up to Rio 2016.
She admitted: “It was becoming increasingly frustrating, and I often questioned my role on the board. It had become unclear, unstructured and definitely without direction.”
However, the former World champion and Olympic silver medallist was optimistic that “these elections will bring some changing of the guard, especially given the transparency now expected from everyone involved with Olympic sport."
O'Sullivan confirmed: “I wasn’t nominated by any federation, and although as an existing executive member I was entitled to go forward for re-election, I have decided against this."
