Sarah Keane is the new president of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI), succeeding Pat Hicke,y who held the position  since 1989.

Sailing’s Colm Barrington was elected first vice-president and Snowsports Ireland’s Robert Norwood was chosen as second vice-president.

Sarah O’Shea was elected secretary general.

With this election, which took place last night at an Extraordinary General Assembly of the NOC in Dublin, the OCI joins the restricted club of European NOCs headed by a woman – Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, and now Ireland.

Ms Keane won by a large majority, 29 out of 43 votes, over the two other candidates for the position, acting OCI president Willie O’Brien and Basketball Ireland chief executive Bernard O’Byrne.

Sarah Keane, 42, a member of the OCI for the last two years and currently chief executive of Swim Ireland, will lead the new executive committee up to and including the Tokyo 2020 Games.

She commented: “I am committed to working with the new executive committee and staff of the OCI to put in place administration and governance structures that are fit for purpose and best in class, to ensure an athlete-centred approach in respect of all that we do and ultimately, that the OCI plays its part in enhancing the future development of sport in Ireland and represents the country well on the world stage”.

She added: “Some of the required changes will take some time as there are steps that have to be taken in order to facilitate the governance changes.”

Patrick Hickey, who had long ago announced he would not be a candidate, wrote a farewell statement on the Olympic Council of Ireland website.