Syracuse

Sport is a vector for values accepted as universal: fair play, respect for rules, respect for one’s opponent, human dignity, self-control, the sense of individual and collective effort, and the pleasure of play. These values are rules of civility supervised by the umbrella bodies of sport, the international sports federations, which have enacted their own codes and rules of ethics.

As the leader of the Olympic Movement, which has a particular responsibility to promote the positive values of sport, the IOC works with all its stakeholders on strengthening ethics, good governance at an organisational level and protecting the integrity of competitions. Sport is not immune to illicit practices, neither within its own governance structures nor when it comes to the integrity of sports practice. Competition manipulation, harassment and abuse, doping, corruption and other unethical behaviour are threats to athletes, fair competition and the credibility of sports organisations.

It is important to differentiate the efforts of the IOC from, on the one hand, protecting clean athletes and the integrity of sports competitions; and on the other hand, how it works to ensure integrity within its own structures and promote ethical and basic universal principles of good governance throughout the Olympic Movement.

To ensure integrity at competitions, the fight against doping is a top priority for the IOC. It was the driving force to set up the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 1999 and has made the World Anti-Doping Code mandatory for the entire Olympic Movement. In October 2015, the establishment of an Independent Testing Agency (ITA) was first discussed at the Olympic Summit, and later confirmed in March 2017 by the IOC Executive Board as one of the principles to strengthen the global anti-doping system. The Foundation Board was then ratified by the WADA Executive Committee in October 2017. The ITA does not change an International Federation’s or Major Event Organisation’s responsibility under the World Anti-Doping Code (Code), as they ultimately remain responsible for compliance with the Code, which will be monitored by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

While doping is cheating to win a competition and/or have an unfair advantage over other competitors, competition manipulation is usually committed to deliberately lose a competition or parts of it. The IOC was quite quick in recognising the threat imposed by competition manipulation and set up robust educational programmes as well as intelligence systems. With the approval of Olympic Agenda 2020 in December 2014, efforts in this important area have further increased and in 2017, the IOC created the Olympic Movement Unit on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions to ensure a smooth coordination among the various Olympic Movement stakeholders. The Unit forms an integral part of the IOC Ethics and Compliance Office and oversees the implementation of the Olympic Movement Code on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions.

The IOC has also done a lot to strengthen its principles of good governance, promoting integrity across different levels of the Olympic and sports movement. Since the adoption of Olympic Agenda 2020, all the recommendations outlined in this field were implemented by 2015. The IOC’s independent Ethics Commission, created in 1999, defined its own Code of Ethics which is an integral part of the Olympic Charter. In the event of a breach of the ethical principles, it examines the complaints filed and proposes recommendations to the IOC Executive Board for sanctioning. The Basic Universal Principles of Good Governance within the Olympic Movement, first approved by the Olympic Congress in Copenhagen in 2009 and updated in the framework of Recommendation 14 of Olympic Agenda 2020+5 – “Strengthen the Olympic Movement through good governance” – with a view to adjusting to the latest standards, must be adopted by all members of the Olympic Movement.

The resources on this dedicated page will enable you to find out more about this vast but ever important subject, with a series of links and important publications listing some of the most interesting initiatives put in place, both by the IOC and by other intergovernmental, national and non-governmental organisations, as well as the international sports federations.
For their part, the academic publications we suggest offer a broader and more critical view of the topic.
For a complete overview of publications available on this topic, click on the link at the bottom of the page.