The 'Pat McQuaid's An Official Asshole' Thread

He must know he has zero credibility left, his antics right now are bringing shame on the entire of cycling, and clearly this desperation is down to protecting secrets within the UCI.

Seriously I'd be too embarrased and resign with a little dignity. Does this man have no shame?

I think he has, but can't afford to, so many skeletons tucked away by him and Hein, he'll go down hard once he's out of power.

Remember the dossier presented by Plant? One put together by Makarov? Bet there's some juicy stuff in there.

Shady as fuck basically.

... said the man called Hairy Chris

Pat McQuaid says reports of the Swiss withdrawing their nomination are "complete bullshit"

In other news, Swiss withdraw their nomination

Has his arsehole transplant rejected him yet?

Has his arsehole transplant rejected him yet?

Yes

If you look close enough, you can see the vultures circling over his head

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/09/news/leaked-file-alleges-deep-uci-corruption-cover-ups_302277

ouch.

Fat Pat's carefully considered and moderately phrased response:

So far in this presidential election campaign, my opponents have employed lies, bribery, attempted extortion, attempted vote-buying, attempts at entrapment with hidden cameras and microphones, commercial interests threatening to bankrupt national federations if they didn’t withdraw my nomination and legal chicaneries to try to prevent you from even being given the chance to vote for or against me. This is not democracy. This is gangster politics.

Nice to see he's not lost his touch.
WAC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/24026002

Wat?

Shit headline from BBC, mind (as it's nomination not election).

As far as I can see, he's saying that if he's no longer President of the UCI he won't use his position as a member of IOC (which he holds despite being barred from competing in all Olympic events for life) in order to promote cycling.

WAC indeed.

In fairness, he doesn't explicitly say that.
Would the new UCI pres not get given IOC membership anyway?

I went to school with Brian Cookson - he was a year or two younger than me and was a decent lad back in those days. Haven't seen him for quite a while but he's certainly put his (unpaid) time into British Cycling over the years from the grass roots up to his current role as President of B. C. Since he took on the role, British Cycling have done a pretty good job at winning things and there's been a huge boom in cycling in the UK in recent years.

Would be nice to see him take on the job and give it a good go. Chris Hoy and Seb Coe seem to think so too.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/other-sports/cycling/sir-chris-hoy-backing-brian-2250605

http://www.briancookson.org/files/6313/7208/9499/Manifesto_BC_English.pdf

Can't do any worse than Fat Pat.

^^ He doesn't explicitly say that, no, but if he's claiming that cycling as a sport would no longer have 'a voice at the table' at the IOC, despite the fact he'd continue to be on the IOC board, I can't see any other interpretation.

The new UCI Pres wouldn't be given a place on the IOC board, no. Fat Pat has been UCI Pres since 2006, but was only put on the IOC board in 2010. AFAIK they're separate appointments.

Ok sounds like a fair interpretation and logic. Total knobber.

Had a search and it seems he's not on the executive board but is an ordinary IOC member. I think that's what you meant anyway. http://www.olympic.org/mr-pat-mcquaid

Would anybody actually care if cycling was dropped from the Olympics? The track events are a joke since they ditched the classic ones, the field is a joke as they take token entries from the regions rather than the best, and the road events are a long way down anybody's list of what's most important in road racing. If the UCI wants to be clear of corruption, one of the things it could do to show that would be to get as far away as possible from the even more corrupt IOC.

I would. For a lot of people the Olympics is the most exposure to cycling they get. If it keeps cycling noticed the yeah, we should keep it. Obviously whilst developing other ways to get cycling noticed and people engaged.

Yes, the distinction between board member and member of the IOC is a distinction which is lost on me so I may well have used the wrong term. I'd be reluctant to see cycling go from the Olympics, particularly as its one of the few occasions on which women's cycling gets decent coverage. Something else the UCI has done bugger all about since Fat Pat's decided his own personal squabbles and vendettas are more important.

the Olympic track cycling is still good to watch

It is, but the good events are noticable by their absence, and the Omnium is an abomination

I'm not a fan of the Omnium, but it does feature three of my favourite things in cycling. The elimination race, Laura Trott, and Laura Trott in the elimination race.

You have a point, in Trott at least. Devil-take-the-hindmost is considered a more light weight entertainment event at Six Day meets. Scratch race, points race, Madison, ton and IP all deserve their own event.