An unnamed member of the Irish Olympic team has found themselves in hot water after being found to have gambled on a number of Olympic events while in Rio.
The Independent reports that the person responsible wasn't aware of rules put in place by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which forbid athletes from betting on Olympics events, even if the sport being gambled on isn't that of the athlete in question.
The sums of money involved are understood to be quite moderate and the person has apologised unreservedly for their actions.
A source quoted by the Independent said:
The IOC handled the issue. It was a stupid thing to do. The person was not betting huge sums or anything like that.
The Olympic Council of Ireland has not yet commented on the issue.
An intelligence system to monitor any illegal gambling by Olympic athletes was first set up by the IOC ahead of the Beijing games in 2008 to establish a "centralised mechanism for the exhange of information" in relation to betting abnormalities which may suggest that the integrity of some Olympic events might be in question.
Peter O'Leary, the Irish sailor who competed at the Beijing games in 2008, was also found to have engaged in illegal betting after it emerged prior to the 2012 games that he had bet €300 on his rival to win the event that they both took part in. O'Leary was not expected to be in medal contention.
However, after an investigation it was determined that O'Leary did not take part in "match-fixing" and was simply unaware that he was not allowed to bet on any Olympic sports.
It remains to be seen if any action will be taken against this latest Irish gambling indiscretion.
