The
International Olympic Committee is a corporation
based in Lausanne
, Switzerland
, created by Pierre
de Coubertin and Demetrios
Vikelas on 23 June 1894. Its membership consists of the
205 National Olympic Committees.
The IOC organizes the modern
Olympic
Games held in Summer and Winter, every four years.
The first Summer Olympics organized by the
International Olympic Committee held in Athens
, Greece
, in 1896;
the first Winter Olympics in
Chamonix
, France
, in
1924. Until 1992, both Summer and Winter Olympics were held
in the same year. After that year, however, the IOC shifted the
Winter Olympics to the even years between Summer Games, to help
space the planning of the two events two years apart from one
another.
Presentation
On June 23, 1894 the Olympic games were re-created by Pierre de
Coubertin after a hiatus of 1500 years. The baron hoped to foster
international communication and peace through the Olympic Games.
The IOC is a parent organization intended to localize
administration and authority for the Games, as well as to provide a
single legal entity which owns
copyrights,
trademarks,
and other intangible properties associated with the Olympic games.
For example, the Olympic logos, the design of the Olympic flag, the
motto, creed, and anthem are all owned and administered by the IOC.
There are other organizations which the IOC coordinates as well,
which are collectively called the
Olympic
Movement. The IOC President is responsible for
representing the IOC as a whole, and there are members of the IOC
which represent the IOC in their respective countries.
Professor David C. Young of the University of Florida has conducted
research suggesting that the revival of the modern Olympic Games
was planted firmly in both Greece and the United Kingdom by
Evangelis Zappas and Dr
William Penny Brookes
respectively.
Original members of the International Olympic Committee
Presidents
Mission and role
The mission of the IOC is to promote
Olympism throughout the world and to lead the
Olympic Movement.
The IOC's role is to:
- Encourage and support the promotion of ethics in sport as well
as education of youth through sport and to dedicate its efforts to
ensuring that, in sport, the spirit of fair play prevails and
violence is banned;
- Encourage and support the organization, development and
coordination of sport and sports competitions;
- Ensure the regular celebration of the Olympic Games;
- Cooperate with the competent public or private organizations
and authorities in the endeavor to place sport at the service of
humanity and thereby to promote peace;
- Take action in order to strengthen the unity and to protect the
independence of the Olympic Movement;
- Act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic
Movement;
- Encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all
levels and in all structures with a view to implementing the
principle of equality of men and women;
- Lead the fight against doping in sport;
- Encourage and support measures protecting the health of
athletes;
- Oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and
athletes;
- Encourage and support the efforts of sports organizations and
public authorities to provide for the social and professional
future of athletes;
- Encourage and support the development of sport for all;
- Encourage and support a responsible concern for environmental
issues, to promote sustainable development in sport and to require
that the Olympic Games are held accordingly;
- Promote a positive legacy from the Olympic Games to the host
cities and host countries;
- Encourage and support initiatives blending sport with culture
and education;
- Encourage and support the activities of the International Olympic Academy
(IOA) and other institutions which dedicate themselves to Olympic
education.
Organization
The IOC Session
The Session is the general meeting of the members of the IOC, held
once a year in which each member has one vote. It is the IOC’s
supreme organ and its decisions are final.
Extraordinary Sessions may be convened by the President or upon the
written request of at least one third of the members.
Among others, the powers of the Session are:
- To adopt or amend the Olympic Charter.
- To elect the members of the IOC, the Honorary President and the
honorary members.
- To elect the President, the Vice-Presidents and all other
members of the IOC Executive Board.
- To elect the host city of the Olympic Games.
The IOC Executive Board
The IOC Executive Board consists of the President, four
Vice-Presidents and ten other members. All members of the IOC
Executive Board are elected by the Session, in a secret ballot, by
a majority of the votes cast. The IOC Executive Board assumes the
general overall responsibility for the administration of the IOC
and the management of its affairs.
The IOC Session elects, by secret ballot, the IOC President from
among its members for a term of eight years renewable once for four
years. The current IOC President, Jacques Rogge, was re-elected for
a second, four-year term on 9 October 2009. Former President
Juan Antonio Samaranch has
been elected Honorary President For Life.
Honours
In addition to the Olympic medals for competitors, the IOC awards a
number of other honours:
- the IOC President's Trophy is the highest sports award given to
athletes who have excelled in their sport and had an extraordinary
career and created a lasting impact on their sport.
- the Pierre de Coubertin
medal is awarded to athletes who demonstrate a special spirit
of sportsmanship in Olympic events
- the Olympic Cup is awarded to
institutions or associations with a record of merit and integrity
in actively developing the Olympic Movement
- the Olympic Order is awarded to
individuals for particularly distinguished contributions
to the Olympic Movement, and superseded the Olympic
Certificate.
Publications
The IOC publishes
Olympic
Review and
Revue Olympique since 1894.
IOC members
For most of its existence, the IOC was controlled by members who
were co-opted, which means they were selected by other members.
Countries that had hosted the Games were allowed two members,
others one or none. When named, they became not representatives of
their respective countries to the IOC, but rather the opposite, IOC
members in their respective countries.
For a long time, members of royalty have been members of co-option,
such as Prince Albert de Monaco, as have former athletes. These
last 10 years, the composition has evolved, in order to get a
better representation of the sports world. Members seats have been
allocated specifically to athletes, International Federations
leaders and National Olympic Committees leaders.
Membership
The total number of IOC members may not exceed 115. Each member of
the IOC is elected for a term of eight years and may be re-elected
for one or several further terms.
- A majority of members whose memberships are not linked to any
specific function or office; their total number may not exceed 70;
there may be no more than one such member national of any given
country;
- Active athletes, the total number of whom may not exceed 15,
elected for eight years by their peers during the Olympic
Games;
- Presidents or persons holding an executive or senior leadership
position within IFs, associations of IFs or other organizations
recognized by the IOC, the total number of whom may not exceed
15;
- Presidents or persons holding an executive or senior leadership
position within NOCs, or world or continental associations of NOCs,
the total number of whom may not exceed 15; there may be no more
than one such member national of any given country within the
IOC.
Cessation of membership
The membership of IOC members ceases in the following
circumstances:
- Resignation: any IOC member may cease their membership at any
time by delivering his written resignation to the President.
- Non re-election: any IOC member ceases to be a member without
further formality if they are not re-elected.
- Age limit: any IOC member ceases to be a member at the end of
the calendar year during which they reach the age of 80.
- Failure to attend Sessions or take active part in IOC work for
two consecutive years.
- Transfer of domicile or of main center of interests to a
country other than the country which was theirs at the time of
their election.
- Members elected as active athletes cease to be a member upon
ceasing to be a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission.
- Presidents and individuals holding an executive or senior
leadership position within NOCs, world or continental associations
of NOCs, IFs or associations of IFs or other organizations
recognized by the IOC cease to be a member upon ceasing to exercise
the function they were exercising at the time of their
election.
- Expulsion: an IOC member may be expelled by decision of the
Session if such member has betrayed their oath or if the Session
considers that such member has neglected or knowingly jeopardized
the interests of the IOC or acted in a way which is unworthy of the
IOC.
Olympic marketing
Revenue
The Olympic Movement generates revenue through five major programs.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) manages broadcast
partnerships and the
TOP worldwide sponsorship
program. The Organizing Committees for the Olympic Games (OCOGs)
manage domestic sponsorship, ticketing and licensing programs
within the host country under the direction of the IOC. The Olympic
Movement generated a total of more than US$4 billion in revenue
during the most recent Olympic
quadrennium (2001–2004).
Revenue distribution
The IOC distributes some of Olympic marketing revenue to
organizations throughout the Olympic Movement to support the
staging of the Olympic Games and to promote the worldwide
development of sport. The IOC retains approximately 8% of Olympic
marketing revenue for the operational and administrative costs of
governing the Olympic Movement.
The Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs)
The IOC provides TOP program contributions and Olympic broadcast
revenue to the OCOGs to support the staging of the Olympic Games
and Olympic Winter Games:
- TOP Program Revenue to OCOGs; the two OCOGs of each Olympic
quadrennium generally share approximately 50% of TOP program
revenue and value-in-kind contributions, with approximately 30%
provided to the summer OCOG and 20% provided to the winter
OCOG.
- Broadcast Revenue to OCOGs; the IOC contributes 49% of the
Olympic broadcast revenue for each Games to the OCOG. During the
2001 - 2004 Olympic quadrennium, the Salt Lake 2002 Organizing
Committee received US$443 million in broadcast revenue from the
IOC, and the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee received US$732
million.
- Domestic Program Revenue to OCOGs; the OCOGs generate
substantial revenue from the domestic marketing programs that they
manage within the host country, including domestic sponsorship,
ticketing and licensing.
National Olympic Committees (NOCs)
The NOCs receive financial support for the training and development
of Olympic teams, Olympic athletes and Olympic hopefuls. The IOC
distributes TOP program revenue to each of the NOCs throughout the
world. The IOC also contributes Olympic broadcast revenue to
Olympic Solidarity, an IOC organization that provides financial
support to NOCs with the greatest need.
The continued success of the TOP program and Olympic broadcast
agreements has enabled the IOC to provide increased support for the
NOCs with each Olympic quadrennium. The IOC provided approximately
US$318.5 million to NOCs for the 2001 - 2004 quadrennium.hi 5
International Olympic Sports Federations (IFs)
The IOC is now the largest single revenue source for the majority
of IFs, with its contributions of Olympic broadcast revenue that
assist the IFs in the development of their respective sports
worldwide. The IOC provides financial support from Olympic
broadcast revenue to the 28 IFs of Olympic summer sports and the
seven IFs of Olympic winter sports after the completion of the
Olympic Games and the Olympic Winter Games, respectively.
The continually increasing value of Olympic broadcast partnership
has enabled the IOC to deliver substantially increased financial
support to the IFs with each successive Games. The seven winter
sports IFs shared US$85.8 million in Salt Lake 2002 broadcast
revenue. The contribution to the 28 summer sports IFs from Athens
2004 broadcast revenue has not yet been determined, but the
contribution is expected to mark a significant increase over the
US$190 million that the IOC provided to the summer IFs following
Sydney 2000.
Other Organizations
The IOC
contributes Olympic marketing revenue to the programs of various
recognized international sports organizations, including the
International Paralympic
Committee
, the Paralympic Organizing
Committee, and the World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Bidding to host the games
Countries
bidding to host the
Summer Olympic Games or the
Winter Olympic Games compete
aggressively to have their bid accepted by the IOC. The IOC
members, representing most of the member countries, vote to decide
where the Games will take place. Members from countries which have
cities bidding to host the games are excluded from the voting
process, up until the point where their city drops out of the
contest.
In recent years, the contest for the right to host the games has
grown increasingly fierce and controversial. Allegations were
leveled after the 1996 Olympics that Atlanta Committee for the
Olympic Games (ACOG) organizers bribed members of the IOC to obtain
the Olympic Games. However, ACOG documents were destroyed prior to
a formal inquiry and the allegations remain unproven. In his
defense, ACOG Chairman Billy Payne said "Atlanta's bidding effort
included excessive actions, even thought processes, that today seem
inappropriate but, at the time, reflected the prevailing practices
in the selection process and an extremely competitive environment."
In 2002,
Salt Lake
City
was involved in a bribery scandal but earlier
stories, reported by British journalists Vyv
Simson and Andrew Jennings, date
back decades. Corruption in the IOC has been documented by
numerous investigations. After the Salt Lake City scandal in which
a number of IOC members were expelled following an extensive
investigation, efforts were made to clamp down on abuses of the bid
city process. More stringent rules were introduced and an advisory
board of recently retired former athletes was set up. Critics of
the organization believe more fundamental reform is required, for
instance replacing the self-perpetuating system of delegate
selection with a more democratic process.
Even legal attempts to sway the IOC to accept a city's bid can
spark controversy, such as
Beijing's
successful bid to host the
2008 Summer Olympics. Several
human rights organizations spoke out against the poor human rights
condition of China, in conflict with the Olympic Charter of the
IOC.
In an August 2007 interview on the Beijing 2008 website, IOC
President Jacques Rogge said, the IOC "definitely would love to see
the continents that have not yet organized the Games like Africa or
Latin America do that in the future. I cannot tell you exactly
when, but I will see it in my life... We believe in the near future
we can determine the host country under this rotating system. As of
now, we haven’t set a timetable for starting this system”.
Controversy
Scandal
broke on December 10, 1998, when Swiss IOC member
Marc Hodler, head of the coordination
committee overseeing the organization of the 2002 games, announced
that several members of the IOC had taken bribes.
Soon four
independent investigations were underway: by the IOC, the USOC, the
SLOC, and the United States Department of
Justice
.
Before any of the investigations could even get under way both
Welch and Johnson resigned their posts as the head of the SLOC.
Many others soon followed. The Department of Justice filed charges
against the two: fifteen charges of bribery and fraud. Johnson and
Welch were eventually acquitted of all criminal charges in December
2003.
As a result of the investigation ten members of the IOC were
expelled and another ten were sanctioned. This was the first
expulsion or sanction for corruption in the more than a century the
IOC had existed. Although nothing strictly illegal had been done,
it was felt that the acceptance of the gifts was morally dubious.
Stricter rules were adopted for future bids and ceilings were put
into place as to how much IOC members could accept from bid cities.
Additionally new term and age limits were put into place for IOC
membership, and fifteen former Olympic athletes were added to the
committee.
In 2006, a report ordered by the
Nagano
region's governor said the Japanese city provided millions of
dollars in an "illegitimate and excessive level of hospitality" to
IOC members, including $4.4 million spent on entertainment
alone.
International groups attempted to pressure the IOC to reject
Beijing's bid in protest of the state of
human rights in
the People's Republic of China. One Chinese dissident who
expressed similar sentiments was arrested and sentenced to two
years in prison for calling on the IOC to do just that at the same
time that IOC inspectors were touring the city.
Amnesty International expressed
concern in 2006 regarding the Olympic Games to be held in China in
2008, likewise expressing concerns over the human rights situation.
The second principle in the Fundamental Principles of
Olympism,
Olympic
Charter states that
The goal of Olympism is to place sport
at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to
promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of
human dignity. Amnesty International considers the policies
and practices of the People's Republic as failing to meet that
principle, and urged the IOC to press China to immediately enact
human rights reform.
In August 2008, the IOC issued
DMCA take down
notices on
Tibetan Protest
videos of the Beijing Olympics hosted on YouTube. YouTube and
the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) both pushed back against
the IOC, which then withdrew their complaint.
The IOC has come under criticism for corruption, extavgent parties
and the exorbetent compensation of it's employees.
See also
References
- Source: Olympic Charter, in force as from 1 September
2004.
- http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_122.pdf "Olympic
Charter, in force as from 7 July 2007", International Olympic
Committee
- GamesBids.com - Olympic Bid News and Information
Website
- Samaranch reflects on bid scandal with regret -
2002 Winter Olympics coverage
- Mainichi Daily News ends its partnership with MSN,
takes on new Web address
- http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_122.pdf "Olympic
Charter, in force as from 1 September 2004", International Olympic
Committee
-
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engASA170462006?open&of=eng-CHN
"People’s Republic of China: The Olympics countdown – failing to
keep human rights promises" Amnesty International, 21 September
2006
- IOC backs off DMCA take-down for Tibet protest
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/08/14/video-ioc-backs-dmca-take-down-tibet-protest
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