A Brazilian judge ruled that Irish Olympic Committee (IOC) president Patrick Hickey, awaiting trial over an alleged ticketing scam, could be released on bail and leave the country. Judge Juliana Leal de Melo, who serves on a court overseeing amateur and professional sports, said authorities would return the 71-year-old's passport upon payment of the 1.5 million real ($435,000) bail so that he could have "medical treatment," the Rio state court system said in a statement. Hickey, who was also the head of the European Olympic Committee, was arrested by Brazilian police during the Rio Olympics in August as part of a raid into an illegal ticket sales scheme.
