Ethical? Don't Bet On It...

The dominant story across Ireland on the morning after the Opening Ceremony was not the epic show from Danny Boyle, or even the proceedings kicking off the Games, but reports of an unnamed Irish competitor being investigated for betting on another in an event in which he was involved. We now, of course, know that the man in question is sailor Peter O'Leary.

O'Leary - whose girlfriend is a fellow Corkonian, athletics golden girl Derval O'Rourke - has labelled the allegations "spiteful", stating that the timing was designed to cause the "maximum negative impact possible". Of that there can be little doubt - someone was sitting on this information and biding their time until interest would be at its highest. But it still doesn't excuse or explain the behaviour that has prompted an IOCs ethics committee probe.

Some are pointing towards the rules which came into play last year, but the IOC maintain that the decisions in 2011 were only an amendment to rules in place since 2006, which would obviously cover a contravention of rules at the time of the Beijing Games. But all this is beside the point - it seems O'Leary placed bets on Iain Percy to win the Star class - O'Leary was also competing in the event.

And that, as far as I'm concerned, is that. In the spirit of "innocent until proven guilty", we will wait for the full details of the case to emerge, but if the information we currently have is actually correct, then O'Leary deserves to be hung, drawn and quartered. As far as I'm concerned, cheating to try to increase chances of victory (eg. doping) is horrific, but the possibility of incentivising underperformance is worse. There is no way on earth that an athlete can, with a straight face, defend putting money on a direct opponent to triumph and claim to have done nothing wrong. The punishments may be handed down in line with IOC rules, but this goes beyond a judicial issue or an ethical debate. This is a straight-up insult to the very purpose of the Olympics, the very core of competition and a slap in the face to every athlete and fan who holds sport dear.

O'Leary and his partner David Burrows continue to navigate the placid waters of Weymouth (right) - but for Peter O'Leary, the mother of all storms may be on the horizon.