You ain’t in Kansas anymore Dorothy. Back in the day, international sports integrity conferences – like Play the Game, happening right now in Colorado Springs – were jovial affairs where independent journalists, saddened whistle-blowers and beleaguered sports officials could meet, chat, drink and sometimes dance. Now, everything has changed. Sports are battle grounds of geopolitical … Continue reading How to Survive an International Sports Integrity Conference
Tag Archives: international olympic committee
The Sporting Scandals of the Season
It is in the dog days of summer that the dirty deeds get done. A good habit for European and North American investigative journalists is to check government press releases at the beginning of the July 1st/4th weekend and the Friday before the Christmas Holidays. For it is then, when most people are rushing out … Continue reading The Sporting Scandals of the Season
The Russian Olympic Doping File
It is a slow-moving disaster than penalizes clean athletes and rewards a dirty system. Welcome to the Russian state sponsored doping saga, episode number 58. ** Here is some context. For those readers who do not follow the fast, exciting world of winter sports in the Virgin Islands – the beach training is intense and … Continue reading The Russian Olympic Doping File
Fixing Wrestling, Academics and the Olympics
As the sporting world wrestles with yet more revelations of doping at the Olympics, an excellent analysis of alleged corruption in the Rio Olympics wrestling tournament has been published by the fight website www.flowrestling.com I single out their articles for a couple of reason. First, to a neutral reader the idea of ‘fixing’ and ‘wrestling’ … Continue reading Fixing Wrestling, Academics and the Olympics
Canada’s Pride
Its nice to be able to write a story where the Canadian sports officials are not burying their heads in the sand or passing the hot potato of accountability as quickly as possible. This is an exclusive interview with Richard McLaren, the Canadian sports lawyer who investigated the state-sponsored Russian doping system. It is the … Continue reading Canada’s Pride
How to Investigate Sports Corruption without upsetting the Senior Executives
Lets judge them using their own words. Today, (October 7) the Qatari-sponsored International Centre for Sports Security (ICSS) prepares to officially launch another alphabet soup of an organisation – the Sports Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) or possibly they will announce a shift in their own organization’s deck chairs while attempting to convince the sports world … Continue reading How to Investigate Sports Corruption without upsetting the Senior Executives
If You Love Sports, Switch Off the Rio Olympics
Ten Points on the Russian Sports Doping Scandal 1. The only way to get clean, dope-free sport is for fans around the world to switch off the Rio de Janeiro Olympics: I do not write this lightly. Nor do I write about the rampant corrupton of the Brazilian construction industry, the potential spread of the … Continue reading If You Love Sports, Switch Off the Rio Olympics
Rio Olympics: Why They Should be Postponed or Moved
A brilliant piece of public health analysis by Amir Attaran in last month’s Harvard Public Health Review . This is the source research that 150 other medical experts agreed with and sent a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) asking that the Rio de Janeiro Olympics be postponed, moved or canceled. Read Attaran’s words … Continue reading Rio Olympics: Why They Should be Postponed or Moved
They Have Already Failed: IOC and Interpol
Three weeks away and much to discuss. Lets begin with the non-action of the Olympic integrity officials. They have already failed. In case you missed it amidst the barrage of fancy sounding “anti-corruption” conferences and announcements from various bureaucrats about how they are fighting hard against fixing, leaving no stone turned, standing vigilant, etc, etc … Continue reading They Have Already Failed: IOC and Interpol
FIFA – What Should Happen Now
Get Richard Pound in there asap. The news today of Sepp Blatter’s suspension shows the power of the sponsors. Forget any police charges. Forget any bad publicity. The reason why he is being shown the door is that some of the rich sponsors – finally, finally – came forward last week and asked for him … Continue reading FIFA – What Should Happen Now
