Olympic Council of Ireland president Pat Hickey has strongly denied that he labelled Irish athletes in Sydney as "second rate", following remarks from Irish Sports Council chief executive John Treacy, who yesterday called Hickey's comments about the Irish team's lack of achievement in Sydney as a "disgrace" and "inappropriate".

"To call the athletes second rate is, in my book, a disgrace," said Treacy, who was at Dublin airport to greet Sonia O'Sullivan on her return from Australia. "Because I realise the effort that these athletes put in and the preparation and dedication they have given, anyone who understands athletics knows that it is a totally inappropriate comment to make."

Hickey denies that he has denigrated Ireland's performances in any way. He claims that all he said was that, for the Athens games in 2004, there may be a case for looking at a different system, perhaps sending just the top one third of athletes in the world.

"I never, under any circumstances, said that our athletes were second rate. I would never say that and I am astounded he (John Treacy) would say that I did say it. It is not my style," said Hickey.

"I would give a million pounds to anyone if they could produce a quote of me saying that."

The National Coaching and Training Centre (NCTC) also revealed yesterday that they have decided to remove Hickey from their board of management as a result of the alleged comments.

But, according to the Olympic Council of Ireland president, he is no longer a member of that board, which he says has been in limbo for the past two years. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm definitely not a member," he said. "I was never reappointed by the Minister for Sport and, from what I know, the board doesn't even exist."

The NCTC, based in the University of Limerick, has accused Hickey of denigrating the efforts of the athletes, their coaches, the national governing bodies and the NCTC itself.

In a statement released yesterday, the NCTC director Pat Duffy said that "the confrontational style and unprofessional approach" of Hickey is "deeply symptomatic of the ills which undermined Ireland's Olympic effort since Atlanta".

Ger Canning, the chairman of the NCTC board of management also said that Hickey's recent comments were based on "ignorance, are politically motivated, and are an insult to the hard-working staff of the centre and Irish sport in general".

In what comes across as a baffling contradiction, the NCTC claim that Hickey has been a member of the 12-man board since 1994 - when he was nominated by the then Minister of Sport, Bernard Allen - and they have the documents to confirm his status on the board.

According to Canning, who was appointed chairman in 1996, Hickey has not attended a single meeting in those last four years nor has he sought any information of the detail of the work which is going on.

Since returning from Sydney earlier this week, Hickey has accused the NCTC of "excluding" the Olympic Council of Ireland from the preparations of the Irish team in Sydney and the results of that exclusion have now been revealed.

"I would certainly have a question about the money going to the NCTC, and if that is money properly spent," said Hickey. "I believe the NCTC is a panel of academics and bureaucracy and not the coaching system that we need for Ireland to win Olympic medals in the future."

The NCTC has called for a calm and objective review of the entire four-year Olympic cycle if we are to learn from the experiences of Sydney. This should involve a systematic review of the contribution of all agencies to the Sydney effort and, where deficiencies and problems are identified, they should be rectified.

"But we will not lose our focus as a result of the uninformed comments of Pat Hickey or anyone else," Duffy said. Duffy also said that it was a "national scandal" that "the Olympic dreams and hopes of our young and our established athletes do not lie in the hands of a more supportive and less confrontational Olympic body".

Hickey, however, refuted the claim that he was some sort of "controversial figure" and he was, in fact, supporting what the 28 Olympic sports federations in Ireland were relaying to him about the coaching inadequacies in the country.

"I am prepared to sit down with anyone as a partner on this, but I do believe that the way forward should involve more consultation with the Olympic Council of Ireland. The bottom line is that the future of Irish Olympic success lies in proper coaching and the NCTC are not delivering on this."