Today marks the final deadline for submitting candidacies for the President and other Executive Committee positions, although the names are not expected to be publicly confirmed until Friday (January 13).

Other figures expected to run in an election due to be held in Dublin's Conrad Hotel on February 9 include the body's interim President William O’Brien and Swim Ireland chief executive Sarah Keane.

OCI general-secretary Dermot Henihan is another possible contender, although it is thought he could ultimately settle for another position.

"All names will be in by Wednesday evening," an OCI spokesperson told the Irish Times. 

"They will then be assessed by our legal advisers. 

"We will then advise the various sports federations and the media, and that will take place on Friday."

The organisation is seeking to stabilise itself following a tumultuous five months since former President Patrick Hickey was arrested in a dawn raid during last year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro as part of a Brazilian police investigation.

Hickey, who returned to Ireland on bail last month as the probe continues, had led the national body since 1989 and served on the Executive Committee since 1981.

He faces various ticketing charges but denies all allegations against him.

His bail money was loaned to him by the Association of National Olympic Committees, where the 71-year-old is a vice-president, after he was allowed to return home by a court in Brazil for medical treatment. 

The election is billed as a battle between allies of Hickey, such as O'Brien and Henihan, and those advocating change and a break with the past, such as Keane and O'Byrne.

O'Byrne, who has been in his Basketball Ireland position since 2011 but previously served in a similar role with the Football Association of Ireland, told the Irish Examiner that there "needs to be a clear-out of personnel and a different modus operandi put in place at this stage".

"I know it will be a tough and difficult road due to genuine root changes which are needed in the OCI operations," he added in a statement confirming his candidacy.

"These will be difficult to implement but I believe that there is an appetite for change and an appetite to make the OCI more relevant to Irish sport. 

"I’m very enthusiastic about it."

Success for either O'Brien or Henihan would be controversial given how an OCI-commissioned report conducted by Deloite last year proposed that no official should serve more than two four-year terms.

Both figures have been involved with the Executive Committee since 1996 so, if elected, would have served 24 years by the time their respective terms expired after Tokyo 2020.

"There is strong evidence that organisations benefit from term limits," the report said, according to the Irish Times.

"It prevents the dominance of one viewpoint or mode of thought, it is demonstrably fair to all, and it encourages a renewal and refreshment of governing body thinking and skills."

Three OCI Executive Committee members have resigned their positions in recent months.

The trio - former second vice-president and FAI head John Delaney, honorary treasurer Kevin Kilty and Crisis Management Committee chair Ciarán Ó Catháin - will all not stand again.