PROTECTING CLEAN ATHLETES - PREVENTING AND DETECTING CHEATING RELATED TO SPORTS BETTING
The IOC’s ultimate goal is to protect clean athletes. We are therefore actively committed to fighting all forms of cheating in sport.
The manipulation of sports competitions has become an area of great concern in recent years. Such corruption threatens the very integrity of sport.
Competition manipulation is when an athlete or official cheats in order to remove the unpredictability of a competition. They may cheat to lose a competition or part of it. This is against the Olympic spirit. One example is when athletes lose an event on purpose in order to determine their opponents in the next phases of the competition.
MANIPULATION OF COMPETITIONS LINKED TO BETTING ACTIVITIES
Sports betting:
Betting on sport is not inherently negative. Sports betting is one way the public can demonstrate its attachment to sports and athletes, and the services offered by regulated national operators are one of the main means of financing sport in many countries.
What are the risks?
With the rise of the internet, the sports betting market has gone global. One can bet in Europe on a competition organised in South America through an Asian betting website. The market has hugely increased in size and complexity.
The problem occurs when betting leads to the manipulation of competitions. The very essence of any sporting competition is that the result cannot be known beforehand. When that uncertainty is removed, it renders sport meaningless and demoralises clean athletes.
It is the responsibility of the Olympic Movement and sports world in general therefore to ensure that betting activities do not infringe in any way upon the course or result of the competition.
Cheating is no myth:
We have all heard stories about athletes, referees, coaches or others being offered money or advantages in order to manipulate the result or course of a competition. The threat is real and it is poisoning sport in every corner of the world.
Money talks:
The amount of money involved can be enormous, making the temptation to manipulate very attractive. The huge sums also attract organised crime.
Vicious circle:
When an athlete agrees to cheat once, it becomes increasingly difficult to refuse any subsequent proposition.
HOW DOES THE IOC PROTECT CLEAN ATHLETES?
The Ethics and Compliance Office of the IOC is actively fighting against the manipulation of competitions in different ways :
Organisations participating in Olympic licensing programmes produce officially licensed products from the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games (OCOGs), the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
There are three tiers of licensing within the Olympic Movement:
Organising Committees:
License to companies to create souvenirs related to the Games
National Olympic Committees:
License to companies to create team-specific souvenirs for their own country
International Olympic Committee:
Operates a worldwide licensing programme in certain categories, such as films and video games
Long before an Olympic Games begins, the official licensing programme is pivotal in helping to build excitement in the host country, and around the world, by releasing merchandise and souvenirs that feature the Olympic marks and the Games emblem, which project the host city's message onto the world stage and promote the Olympic brand.
Official licensed products carry the emblems and mascots of the Olympic Games or Olympic teams and are designed to commemorate the Olympic Games and Olympic teams.
The XIII Olympic Congress, entitled “The Olympic Movement in society”, was held from 3 to 5 October 2009 in Copenhagen (Denmark) and brought together more than one thousand participants.
The Congress provided a rare opportunity for the entire Olympic Family (i.e. IOC members, representatives of National Olympic Committee (NOCs), International Federations (IFs), the Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGS), athletes, coaches, media, sponsors and other stakeholders) to meet and discuss issues of importance to the entire Movement.
In his keynote speech to the Congress, UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon paid tribute to the excellent collaboration between the United Nations (UN) and the IOC. (The IOC was granted UN observer status at the end of 2009).
In his concluding remarks, he declared: “If you asked me to jog around this conference room, I would probably run out of breath. But when it comes to fighting for our shared global goals – for a world that is cleaner, healthier, more peaceful and more prosperous – I will sprint like an Olympian. I will ski the steepest trail. I will run and run and never stop until we reach the first line. I am counting on all of you to join me. We must go for the gold.”
Over the course of the three day Congress, participants heard from many respected speakers and had interesting discussions on the following themes:
- the Athletes
- the Olympic Games
- the Structure of the Olympic Movement
- Olympism and Youth and
- the Digital Revolution.
Each of these themes was further subdivided into three subthemes.
A half day was devoted to the discussions of each of the five themes at the Congress. The plenary sessions were followed by three simultaneous breakout sessions on the respective subthemes. (The texts of the speeches can be found under the relevant themes).
All the sessions were livecast over the internet to allow the general public to hear the discussions as they happened. (The videos of the plenary and discussion sessions of each theme can be found under the related tabs).
The breakout session on each of the subthemes began with presentations from a panel of speakers. The moderators of each panel were then responsible for the ensuing discussion period, which gave participants the opportunity to voice their opinions on the issues. The main points from each breakout session were carefully recorded by rapporteurs who informed the Editorial Committee of the discussions at the end of each day. The final document reflects the main ideas to come out of the proceedings in Copenhagen as well as information collected through the Virtual Olympic Congress. The Virtual Olympic Congress allowed the Olympic Family and the public to submit written contributions on the five themes during the preparatory phase.
The XIII Olympic Congress was a great success and has left the Olympic Movement with a blue print for the future. It is now time to translate words into action and implement the 66 recommendations.
