It is one of the most intriguing questions about the dubious dictatorship of IOC President Thomas Bach: Why were the salaries of some IOC directors almost doubled in the middle of the COVID crisis? Why do his loyal servants earn more money from the IOC in one Olympiad than any Olympic IF?
Kamila Valieva' doping case raised questions about a minimum age for Olympic athletes. The Games thrive on high-performing children – some of them so young that they are not even allowed to compete in the Youth Olympic Games. Children are vulnerable to authoritarian states chasing medals and glory.
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah has been sentenced to prison. Our author has observed the Kuwaiti Sheikh for many years and has been threatened by the Sheikh’s aides several times. He describes the methods that brought Ahmad to power and the implications of the conviction for Al-Sabah and the Olympic system.
The second anti-doping violation committed by Chinese swim controversy Sun Yang has now led to a damning ‘guilty’ verdict for a third time, the latest and last Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling having confirmed that the athlete must serve a penalty, now set at four years, three months.
For the first time ever it can be revealed in detail how much cash the IOC paid to an Olympic host. Investigative journalist Jens Weinreich publishes the list of 117 payments to Rio 2016 in a worldwide exclusive in his magazine SPORT & POLITICS.
Most of the international Olympic sports federations are financially heavily dependent on their share of the revenues from the Olympic Games. The IOC traditionally does not publish how it will distribute the revenues from the Olympic Games among the 28 permanent summer sports federations.
