IOC and Federations to Propose Sports Governance Steps

(ATR) Around the Rings understands that the IOC and Olympic federations will seek to accelerate good governance practices at the IF Forum in the wake of WADA’s explosive verdict on Russian doping.

Andrew Ryan, executive director of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, tells ATR that the "difficulties" at the two largest sports federations had sparked concerns about the perception of how other federations are being run.

"This is spilling over into other organizations in the sports world… all federations are coming under scrutiny," Ryan said.

"Confidence is not lost in sport yet but obviously it has been damaged in recent weeks."

The forum opens Wednesday in Lausanne against the backdrop of scandals engulfing the IAAF and FIFA. The publication of a WADA independent commission on Monday, revealing a state-sponsored doping program in Russia and identifying "systemic failures" at the IAAF, sent shockwaves through the Olympic Movement.

Ryan said the annual IF Forum would address the problems of governance and integrity at FIFA and the IAAF and across other federations.

"The agenda for the IF Forum is absolutely online with the problems we are seeing to do with the FIFA and IAAF," he said. "It’s clear there is work to do on governance to make sure these things cannot happen in the future.

"The timing is fortuitous… we have our third conference on governance. I am sure it will give this conference a higher profile and it may be easier to get things done."

The IOC and ASOIF together with the winter federations have been working for two years to deliver a set of best practice governance principles to improve the way federations operate, which will be advanced this week.

"We are very close to getting to a point of being prescriptive about what good governance means," Ryan said, indicating that further proposals may emerge from the IF Forum which Olympic and non-Olympic federations will ultimately be asked to subscribe to.

The ASOIF chief said he expects the forum to agree to an "absolute undertaking to take some concrete steps".

While Ryan predicts a "very quick upscaling of work", he cautioned: "We are not rushing to get something done cosmetically."

A new task force to monitor federations’ implementation of the principles may not be necessary. Instead, ASOIF’s legal and consultative group may be asked to take on the job. It would raise issues and propose solutions to the ASOIF Council, SportAccord, the umbrella association for all federations, and the IOC to help fix the challenges of governance experienced by federations.

At the IF Forum, Ryan said there were other "very significant" initiatives "likely to be accelerated".

The IOC proposal from the Olympic Summit that all doping tests be carried out by an independent body is one project Ryan expects to be fast-tracked in the wake of the Russian doping scandal and troubles afflicting the IAAF.

IOC president Thomas Bach will open the forum together with ASOIF and SportAccord Convention chief Francesco Ricci Bitti on Wednesday evening.

Ryan expects a "hard-hitting" keynote address from Simon Greenberg, global head of rights at News Corp, which will set the tone for the conference.

Greenberg’s message to delegates is that "either international sports bodies put in place proper governance protections, and should do so as a matter of urgency, or external bodies will move into that space and do it for them".

Reported by Mark Bisson

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