Olympians’ push for greater influence over the bureaucracy of international sports has reached a fever pitch this winter, with a new global organization echoing a key demand already made by an American advocacy group.
On Feb. 13, Global Athlete launched with British cyclist Callum Skinner and former World Anti-Doping Agency deputy director Rob Koehler as its frontmen. They say they want true “equal representation” in sports, with athletes or retired athletes holding 50 percent voting power in major sports bodies, the same thing the U.S.-based Committee to Restore Integrity to the USOC is demanding here.
The groups did not coordinate, and the motivating factors are different — globally, the top concern is doping control; domestically, it is abuse prevention. But both groups say those problems are symptoms of a bigger issue, which is that the Olympic industry treats athlete input as an afterthought.
Currently, U.S. law requires 20 percent athlete representation on Olympic bodies, and the IOC Athletes’ Commission is mostly advisory. Many critics say that athletes who do have roles in governance now are simply outvoted or become co-opted by the system.
“I’m not saying this is going to be a union, but in sports where they’ve had a union, they’ve created equal representation with the athletes over the years, and those sports have grown hugely successful,” Koehler said. “The revenue streams have increased.”
For now, the groups mostly hope to use public opinion and political pressure to force changes to bylaws and procedures. That could be effective in the U.S., where Congress is considering changes to the Amateur Sports Act. But athlete collective action is most effective with the threat of a labor stoppage, which athletes acknowledge would be exceptionally difficult to pull off in the decentralized international sports world.
“In a traditional union, the main leverage is ‘we won’t participate,’ and asking an Olympic or Paralympic athlete to strike and not go to the Olympics or Paralympics is a very large step,” said Han Xiao, chairman of the USOC’s Athletes’ Advisory Council.
While not ready to rule out some kind of union, Xiao said their initial focus is on ways to ensure more regular athlete input on day-to-day operations, such as a paid staff.
The AAC was scheduled to meet Feb. 23-24 in Chicago to discuss options to enhance athlete advocacy. Koehler was expected to attend, along with NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr and Norman Bellingham, an Olympic champion and former COO of the USOC, Xiao said.
