Good governance in international sport organizations : an analysis of the 35 Olympic sport governing bodies

In this article, structural issues with regard to the quality of the self-governance of the35 Olympic sport governing bodies (SGBs) are analysed. First, this article presentsempirical evidence on the lack of accountability arrangements in SGBs. In particular,the watchdog function of their member organizations is severely undermined by thegeneral absence of objective criteria and transparency in the distribution of funding tomembers. With regard to checks and balances, arguably the most topical issue is thecomplete lack of independent ethics committees. Second, our survey demonstrates thatmost SGBs have institutionalized athlete participation. However, in the overwhelmingmajority of the organizations, they have not been granted a share of formal decisionmaking power. Third, with regard to executive body members, there is the ratheranachronistic dominance of the European continent and also the preponderance ofmale officials. In addition, the general lack of term limits poses serious threats withregard to the concentration of power, which is evidenced for instance by the overallnumber of years SGB presidents are in office. The empirical evidence clearly supportsthe recent calls for improved governance in sport, according to which SGBs need toagree upon, and act in accordance with, a set of well-defined criteria of good governance.Only then will the self-governance of sport be credible and the privilegedautonomy of these organizations justifiable