Pat Hickey confessed to being "disappointed but encouraged" after only narrowly failing to win a place on the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) executive board at yesterday's annual congress in Sydney.

With two outgoing members retiring by rule, competition was intense for the vacancies on one of sport's most elite bodies. And with the campaign for gender equality growing by the year, it was no real surprise that one of them went to a Swedish woman.

That effectively left seven men competing for just one post and Hickey may have surprised many by finishing third in the poll behind the Italian, Antonio Carrera, and the South African delegate.

For somebody who was conceding all the advantages in experience to his rivals, it was a good showing and may well have laid the basis for a successful bid during next year's congress at Moscow, where IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch is due to retire after 21 years in office.

Elsewhere in the Olympic City, the Irish squad has begun to assemble in the sprawling athletes' village, after completing their preparations at Newcastle, some two hours drive from Sydney.

However, for one man, Bernard Dunne, the featherweight boxer from Dublin, it was a sad parting of the ways. Dunne, whose father Brendan was an outstanding international competitor in his time, has been in training with the squad for the last few weeks in the hope that some of those qualified to box in the championships would be forced to withdraw.

Unfortunately for Dunne, all those entered have remained in the draw, which takes place at noon today and Martin Power, manager of the boxing team, concedes that there is now little or no chance of the Dubliner getting a late reprieve.

"We've been hoping against hope these last few weeks that there would be a vacancy and that Bernard, now in the best condition of his career, would get in," he said.

"But during the last few days it became clear that this would not in fact happen. It's sad for the lad who intends staying on with a friend in Sydney for the duration of the Games, that he has to leave the squad but we're grateful for the tremendous help he has given Michael Roche since we arrived in Australia."

Roche is Ireland's only representative in a discipline which, over the years, has produced some great performances from men in green singlets. And he's primed to give it his best shot.

Roche believes that with a decent draw he can make an impact in the light middle division. "I've done all the work in training, feel good about my chances, but naturally I'll be a bit apprehensive to see how the draw works out," he said.

One man the Cork boxer will be hoping to avoid is Cuban Juan Hernandez, whom Michael Carruth beat in the welterweight final at Barcelona in 1992 and who then suffered the crowning disappointment of losing to a Russian after again progressing to the final at Atlanta.

Irish athletes take part in a meeting this afternoon at the warmup complex adjoining the main Olympic Stadium. Mark Carroll goes in the 2,000 metres with James Nolan and David Matthews racing over 1,000 metres. Nick Sweeney and Terry McHugh are expected to be among the Irish throwers in action.