The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896, thanks to the efforts of Baron de Coubertin, just two years after the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”), which he founded, was established.
Since then, 32 editions of the (summer) Olympic Games have taken place and many things have changed over the years.
The comparison between the first edition and the latest Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 (2021) is truly impressive: While 241 athletes (all males) took part in Athens, in Japan as many as 11.483 athletes competed.
The difference between the number of disciplines is also striking, and it went from 43 competitions in 9 sports to an impressive 339 competitions in 33 sports.
Some sports, such as surfing, about which we talked about in this post, but also karate and skateboarding, were included in the batch of Olympic sports for the first time in the Japanese edition.
But how can a sport become an Olympic sport?
With this post we would like to explain what the main elements of this process are:
- First step: the recognition by the IOC
- The formal request to the IOC
- A major investment
- The evaluation process
- The turnover between sports
- The new sports admitted to Paris 2024
First step to become Olympic sport: the recognition by the IOC
First of all, the sports activity must be administered by an international non-governmental organisation that oversees at least one sport.
This organisation must then be recognised by the IOC, obtaining the status of Recognized International Sports Federation (“RISF”) (in the recent case of surfing, for example, the IOC recognised the International Surfing Association).
In accordance with Rule 25 of the Olympic Charter (“OC”), “the IOC may recognise as International Federations (IFs) international nongovernmental organisations administering one or several sports at world level and encompassing organisations administering such sports at national level”.
The recognition by the IOC is conditional, among others, on the federation’s commitment to comply with the OC, which consists of 6 chapters and 61 articles. It is an official document, inspired by de Coubertin himself and then amended several times over the years, which codifies the fundamental principles of the Olympic movement.
The role of the RISF within the Olympic Movement is “to establish and enforce, in accordance with the Olympic spirit, the rules concerning the practice of their respective sports and to ensure their application” (Rule 26 1.1 OC) and “ensure the development of their sports throughout the world” (Rule 26 1.2 OC), among other missions set in the same Rule 26 OC.
In addition to the Charter, an International Federation seeking recognition by the IOC must comply with the World Anti-Doping Code, a fundamental document that harmonises anti-doping policies, rules and regulations within sports organisations and between public authorities worldwide.
The same International Federation shall also respect the Olympic Movement Code on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competition. This Code aims to provide sports organisations with harmonised regulations to protect all competitions from the risk of manipulation.
Apart from that, the RISFs need to fulfill some additional criteria such as (non- exhaustive):
- conform to Rule 25 of the Olympic Charter;
- recognize the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) jurisdiction and the application of the Code of Sports-related Arbitration;
- be the only Federation governing the sport worldwide;
- Have existed in such capacity for at least five years;
- be member of the SportAccord; or
- For summer sport IFs: have a minimum of 50 affiliated countries from at least three continents.
Then, upon fulfillment of those criteria, there is a decision-making process, which can be summarized as follows:
- Request for recognition: The first step is for the IF to inform the IOC about its intention to apply for recognition.
- Analysis by SportAccord: studying the recognition request and if the analysis is positive, the IOC submits a provisional recognition request to its Executive Board
- IOC Executive Board (Provisional recognition): Once a year, the IOC Executive Board studies and decide upon the recognition requests. If a provisional recognition is granted, the applicant is granted rights given to RISFs for two years.
- IOC Session (Recognition granted): At the end of the provisional recognition period, the IOC Session decides if the full recognition is granted, issuing an official notification with their decision.
- Annual report: Whether an IF has provisional or full recognition, it must provide the IOC an annual activity report explaining the usage of the funds that were allocated by the IOC.
There is a list of evaluation criteria that needs to be answered by the IF when delivering a recognition request application file to the IOC, such as its active member national federations, strategic planning process, gender equity in elected bodies, youth appeal, digital media, sponsors, etc.
To group all the RISFs, in 1983 it was formed the Association of IOC Recognised International Sport Federations (“ARISF”), which is their world authority but that currently do not compete in the Olympics. Among its aims are: act as a spokesperson to defend and coordinate the common interests of its members, determine the consensus of the member federations on questions of common interest in relation to the Olympic Movement and ensure the largest possible participation in the activities of the IOC, among others.
The formal request to the IOC
Does an International Federation recognised by the IOC automatically become an Olympic sport? The answer is no. Recognition is essential, but it is not the only condition required.
In fact, there are many recognised sports such as bowling or chess, which are, however, not among the Olympic sports.
To be included in the shortlist of Olympic sports, the RISF must submit a formal request to the IOC, which will be evaluated in light of a number of criteria.
The cumulative conditions to be met are the following:
- the sport must be practised on a large scale, i.e. it must be popular in at least 75 countries and 4 continents for men and in 40 countries and 3 continents for women;
- the sport must increase the value and attractiveness of the Olympic Games;
- it must not be a purely ‘mental’ sport or one that depends on mechanical propulsion (this is why chess and motor racing have always been excluded);
in the country hosting the Games, there must be venues suited to the specific needs of the proposed sport.
A major investment
In the context of the formal request to the IOC the legitimate and transparent lobbying ability of the International Federations has its importance.
It is clear that the inclusion among the Olympic disciplines can be a turning point in the life of a sport, but it is not an easy path.
In order to succeed in obtaining IOC approval, it is necessary to present a solid application, accompanied by a real communication campaign, with the production of content and promotional materials that may require considerable economic investment.
It is also crucial to be able to develop a good network of contacts, through both civil society and institutions (including politicians). Travels and continuous working meetings are necessary, as well as the organisation of demonstration showcases and events that can show the popularity and value of the sport for which the Olympic admission is being sought. As can be easily understood, not everyone can afford the costs of running a campaign to promote a sport, which can last for many years, and with no absolute certainty of success.
The evaluation process to become Olympic sport
In the light of the met conditions indicated in the previous paragraphs, the applications that arrive from the RISF (or from the organising committee of a given edition of the Olympic Games) are examined by the Olympic Programme Commission, composed of IOC members and representatives of the national Olympic committees, Federations and athletes.
The Commission submits its opinion to the IOC, which can admit an activity into the Olympic programme in three ways:
- as a sport;
- as a discipline, understood as a branch of a sport;
- as an event, understood as a competition within a discipline.
The programme of the Olympics, including all sports competitions established by the IOC for each edition of the Olympic Games is adopted in accordance with Rule 45 OC and its By-laws.
Let us take a few examples: the organising committee of the Tokyo Olympics obtained from the IOC the inclusion of 18 new events, divided into five different sports: karate, skateboarding, surfing, climbing and baseball (for women, softball).
In addition, IOC admitted 15 disciplines, mainly to increase women’s participation, e.g. 1500m women’s and 4x100m mixed event in swimming, a mixed team event in archery, 4×400m mixed relay in athletics, etc.
The turnover between sports
Turnover between sports has always been a typical feature of the various editions of the Olympic Games.
The only sports present in all modern Olympic Games have in fact been athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics and swimming.
The IOC has tried over time to maintain a fixed quota on the number of participating International Federations (and consequently sports).
Between the 1910s and late 1990s it was set at 26 and then increased to 28.
IOC also defined the principle that a new International Federation could only join if another one left.
This led, for example, in the past to the exit of baseball and softball in favour of golf and rugby.
This limit, however, was later abolished and recalculated on the basis of the ‘events’ (meaning the competitions leading to a medal), and the number of athletes involved.
In 2021, pursuant to the By-laws to Rule 45 OC, new limits were set at 310 events and 10.500 athletes respectively. These limits, however, are indicative since both were exceeded in the last Olympic Games.
The new sports admitted to Paris 2024
Many things will change in the Games of the XXXIII Olympics in Paris next year, compared to Tokyo 2020 (2021).
Karate, a sport strongly rooted in Japanese culture, will not be present in this edition, nor will baseball and softball. Instead, skateboarding, rock climbing and surfing are confirmed.
A brand new sport will also be added: breaking, also known as break dancing.
This is a form of street dance that has developed over the past 30 years as a global movement intertwining music, dance and athleticism. The sport is governed by the World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF) and was proposed as an Olympic sport by the organisers in Paris, following positive response at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires before obtaining the final approval in 2020.
The breaking competitions will be staged in the incredible setting of Place de la Concorde.
Finally, it seems that Paris 2024 will not be the first Olympics for E-sports (about which we talked about in our previous post that you can find here, since there is still a heated debate on whether or not to consider them as a ‘mind game’ (as chess), which would automatically exclude them tout-court from the recognition of the IOC.
Suffice to add that the International Esports Federation (IESF) is waiting since 2013 for the recognition procedure to be member of SportAccord and since 2016 for its recognition by the IOC as RFSF.
However, we saw in the recent past some signs of a possible opening of the doors to a future insertion of Esports to the Olympics. There are rumors to include Esports (with no violent titles featuring) as a demonstration within the Olympic Games of Paris 2024. Commonwealth Games Federation 2022 included already a pilot Esports competition and in June 2023 the first Olympic Esports Week in Singapore will be celebrated, which according to the IOC President Thomas Bach, it will “mark an important milestone in our ambition to support the growth of virtual sports within the Olympic Movement.”
Our law firm follows the evolution of the disciplines included in the Olympic calendars with great interest. It is no coincidence that, a few months ago, we dedicated a blog post to analyse the regulation of surfing. This is because the inclusion of a discipline in the Olympic parterre has many legal implications. As global interest in the sport increases exponentially, so do the demands for expertise to settle possible disputes, advise on regulatory issues or drafting agreements. As always, Elite Law team is ready to take on new challenges. If you need legal advice, do not hesitate to contact us.
