International sport on trial

Participants in this morning’s plenary session on international sport governance, crime and corruption highlighted the conflict of interest involved when the organization charged with promoting (a) sport is also supposed to police that sport. As Athletics Integrity Unit chairman David Howman said, criminals are making a lot of money in sport; that the criminal underground “will creep and creep and creep and strangle us.” KU Leuven post-doctoral Arnout Geeraert, who researches the European Union’s role in shaping good governance in international sports, said where there is money and power, there will be motives for corruption. The opportunity for corruption in international sport needs to be minimized with improved governing.