For many sports Olympic inclusion is a crucial part of its global and national survival.
For once a sport is admitted into the Olympic family there are benefits that flow that sport’s way. For example each sport receives a financial hand-out in the millions or $10-20 million – depending on the sport, – following each Olympiad to help fund them for the next four year cycle. In addition there are other payments that can come from the IOC in the form of specific payments based on coaching, training of officials, the sport’s inclusivity programs etcetera.
Cynics have said that often this money is used to attract votes from certain countries come election time in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or even International Federations. It has been alleged that through these funding programs the IOC can ensure that each sport’s representative is the person they prefer.
In addition by being a part of the Olympic Games the national bodies of the various sports are in a position to go cup in hand to their own Government’s to request funding support, which again is often money that they rely on for their survival. This is not a healthy situation to be in as a sport, relying on hand outs in order to survive. (Time To Review The Funding Of Sport)
There are many who have argued that Government’s should not simply hand over money, but should encourage the various sports to bring in their own funding. Maybe even match whatever they manage to raise, but not simply hand over money without checking where it is being spent and making sure it actually reaches those it is supposed to support.
Yet, as everyone knows sport and Politics are closely linked. Just look at how the United States of America and the former Soviet Union used to sport during the Cold War to try and promote which ideology was best. A country in which the national sporting teams perform well tends to result in national pride and a feel good factor that is good for the electorate and takes the heat off the politicians. Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Wilson was convinced until his dying day that had England not lost to Germany in the quarter finals and managed to retain the Jules Rimet Trophy he and the Labour Party would have won the 1970 election. Such is the power of sport.
So when a sport comes under the threat of being dropped from the Olympic program by the IOC or a host city it is an extremely fraught time for the sport in question. Their whole future could be in jeopardy, as few if any have planned for the possibility that this funding from the IOC and their own Government could dry up.
When the Covid Pandemic hit and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games had to be postponed by a year, many of the International Sporting federations that compete at the Olympic Games found themselves in dire straits financially, as the well was pretty much dry, and they were hanging on reliant on the Olympic windfall to ensure their survival for the next four years.
There are 67 sports listed on the IOC’s website as being Winter and Summer Olympic sports, as well as Youth Olympic sports. It is believed that all bar two went cup in hand to the IOC requesting a loan to tide them over during the Pandemic.
Whereas the threat of being dropped from the Los Angeles 2028 or Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games could spell disaster for many of the Olympic sports it would appear that their fiscal irresponsibility has actually put them in a stronger position with the IOC rather than a weaker one.
The word out of Lausanne is that not one of the sports that took a loan from the IOC has at this moment in time repaid that loan.
One wonders how many of their CEO’s realised at the time of asking that these loans and the non-repayment would now be guaranteeing their sport’s inclusion in future Olympic Games.
For the IOC does want these loans they made to be repaid. Yet if they drop a sport from the Olympic Games program they are only too well aware that each individual sport will reduce its ability to raise funds in order to pay back the monies owed. So the IOC is faced with having to ensure that all of these sports remain part of the Olympic Games for the near future, up until the loans are paid back.
For some sports it is alleged that the amounts owed to the IOC are in excess of USD$10million. So it is understandable that the IOC would want to recoup these loans as soon as possible. What does seem baffling, and no one would confirm whether when the money was loaned to each International Sporting Federation there was a repayment plan put in place to ensure that the IOC received a certain amount of money per month, or per quarter. If this was not put in place then the IOC only has itself to blame for the situation it now finds itself in.
Whereas previously the sports could find themselves threatened with being dropped by the Olympic Games if there was some aspect that the IOC or the host city did not like, now it is the International Sporting Federations that hold the upper hand. For ironically their collective failure to repay the loans made to them has put them in a stronger position than many can have possibly realised.
While this may appear to be good news to the fans of various individual Olympic sports it should also be a concern that so many International Sporting Federations were not in a position to survive the Pandemic without having to obtain a loan from the IOC. Is this strong, responsible and accountable management?
The other question that has to be asked is where will this leave the IOC if these loans are not repaid?
