Sir, - I have watched RTE's Olympics coverage with much interest and by and large have thoroughly enjoyed it - particularly the comments from Gary O'Toole and Eamon Coughlan. However, I am very disturbed by one aspect of it - the complete air-brushing of Michelle Smith out of the Olympic commentary.
Let me say that I have no knowledge of Michelle Smith or her family and have no bias in her favour, but anyone listening to the coverage would think that she never existed. Her achievements were remarkable in any light and I think it's only fair they should be acknowledged as such, particularly in view of the generally dismal performance of the Irish team. In fact, I find RTE's attitude almost Stalinist in its desire to remove all traces of her from their accounts of Irish Olympic participation. She did not test positive for drugs at the Atlanta games and her Olympic titles still stand. So why the silence? - Yours, etc.,
Anne Walsh, Rusheen, Carna, Co Galway.