IOC

17 May 2023 – Nearly 50 representatives from 37 International Federations (IFs) came together at Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 16 May 2023, for a workshop to share information and exchange knowledge on how to prevent competition manipulation at sports competitions.

Organised by the Olympic Movement Unit on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions (OM Unit PMC), the meeting focused on the three main pillars of the Unit’s strategy: regulation and legislation, awareness-raising and capacity-building, and intelligence and investigations. The IFs also received an update on the upcoming PMC activities in the lead-up to Paris 2024.

“It is fantastic to see the group of IF ‘Single Points of Contacts’ active and well informed about the prevention of competition manipulation,” said Friedrich Martens, Head of the OM Unit PMC. “Our aim for years is to ensure all IFs are familiar with our tools and processes to enable them to handle any incidents in a timely and proactive manner – always with the support of the OM Unit PMC. We support them to implement the Olympic Movement Code on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions , to actively raise awareness among their sportspersons and on their management of any incidents. The workshop allowed us to share best practices and experiences in a great atmosphere and we could also give all IFs an inside look into new processes, procedures and tools available to them.”

During the meeting, the IF experts were introduced to the new version of the model rules for IFs and National Federations (NFs), which followed the recent update of the Olympic Movement Code on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions (OM Code PMC).

The meeting participants took part in interactive hands-on sessions, sharing best practices about how to run awareness-raising activities for their sportspersons.  The involvement of the Believe in Sport ambassadors was also highlighted, as well as the support available through IOC tools, such as the Believe in Sport toolbox.

The workshop also had a strong focus on intelligence and investigations. The OM Unit PMC intelligence processes, which apply during the Olympic Games and beyond, were introduced to the participants, as well as the tools available to run intelligence and investigations, such as the IBIS platform and new open-source platforms developed by the Unit.

A commitment from the whole Olympic Movement

A few weeks ago the OM Unit PMC organised a similar webinar with NOCs. 

These meetings form part of the IOC’s efforts to engage all key Olympic Movement stakeholders in protecting the integrity of sporting competitions. The initiatives to prevent competition manipulation are led by the dedicated OM Unit PMC, set up in 2017. In March 2023, the IOC decided to allocate a fund of USD 10 million per Olympiad to continue to support the successful work of this Unit.