Bobsleigh

The president of Ireland's Olympic Council says Ireland "would go into a riot" if its women's bobsled team is removed from competition at the 2010 Olympics by an Australian appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

"It would be outrageous if those girls were stripped of their accreditation and sent back home to Ireland," said Patrick Hickey to the Olympic publication, Around the Rings.

"We're already suffering from the football (situation) of (France's) Thierry Henry scoring a goal with his hand and eliminating us from the World Cup finals. And if something like this happened it would be catastrophe altogether."

The Australian Olympic Committee has appealed to allow its two-women bobsled team of Astrid Loch-Wilkinson and Cecilia McIntosh to compete at the Vancouver Games.

It lodged the appeal in an attempt to gain a Games berth for Astrid Loch-Wilkinson and Cecilia McIntosh after the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (FIBT) failed to award a place to any team from the Oceania region.

The Australians feel that the FIBT is not upholding its IOC-approved qualifying rules, which state that 18 two-man teams qualify and then two places must be reserved for teams from Oceania and Asia. Yet the FIBT may argue that Australia was already represented by male athletes in the bobsled events in Vancouver.

Ireland says its team of Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin qualified fair and square and was approved by the FIBT, IOC and VANOC. CAS could decide to allow Australia to compete as a 21st team, which would be acceptable to both NOCs.

John Coates, president of the Australian Olympic Committee, says his group would not have started the appeal had they not believed they have the correct interpretation of the qualifying rule.

An attorney in Australia will argue the case by video-conference.

"What I am very concerned about is the Australians have put us in a very invidious position in that they brought their girls here knowing full well that they were not accredited and would have difficulty," said Hickey. "So why did they make it on the stage the hour before the Games?"

"That should have been done and dusted about one month ago. I think the Australian Olympic Committee are trying to force the hand of the IOC to add an extra team to the event and this is part of their tactics, but I abhor and resent their tactics because it puts our girls in danger, and they're innocent victims in this and they should not be treated like that."

There are reports that the Brazilian bobsleigh federation is also trying to win a spot for its women's bob team, currently ranked 31 in the world, one above the Australian team, three behind the Irish team.