2010 has not shaped itself to be a particularly great year in sports for the nation of Ireland. First they found themselves shut out of the World Cup thanks to a missed hand-ball call and now their women's bobsled team is in danger of being removed from the upcoming Olympics. That's because the Australian Olympic Committee has appealed for their 2-woman bobsled team to participate in the games instead.

As part of the IOC's qualifying rules, 18 teams qualify for the games, plus 2 more from the Oceania and Asia regions. Australia's team went through qualifying but the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (FIBT) didn't award any Oceania team this year. If the Australians were in, that would mean the IOC would need to drop the last team, which would be the 28th ranked Irish squad.

If that happened Ireland would "go into a riot" said Patrick Hickey, the president of Ireland's Olympic Council. "It would be outrageous if those girls were stripped of their accreditation and sent back home to Ireland."

"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."

Who knew bobsledding was such an integral part of the Irish people's identity!

The Irish have claimed, and it seems pretty likely, that the Australians, who brought the two women to Vancouver, waited so long to bring the issue up as a means of trying to force the IOC to allow a 21st team. If that happens, expect the Brazilians to also lodge a complaint in order to get THEIR two-woman bobsled team in the games too.

For what it's worth, the Brazilians are ranked 31st and the Australians are 32nd in the world.

[CTV]

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