International Olympic Committee

“Sport Integrity Week” kicked off on 27 November in Athens, Greece, with the aim of further fostering cooperation between stakeholders in order to prevent competition manipulation and protect the integrity of sport and the athletes. 

28 November 2023 – The event brings together integrity experts from eight countries, (Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Malta, Romania and Türkiye) National Olympic Committees (NOCs), ministries, police forces and prosecutors, who are joined by representatives from their national platforms (the local hubs established in line with the Macolin Convention and comprising NOCs, sports organisations, state authorities and law enforcement authorities). During the event, participants will exchange good practices, lessons learnt from their experience and case scenarios.

The week is co-organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Council of Europe, EPATHLA (the Greek national platform for sport integrity), INTERPOL, UEFA and the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF).

During his welcome address, HOC President and IOC Member Spyros Capralos said: “The manipulation of competitions is one of the most significant negative phenomena in sport, undermining the credibility of our competitions. The Olympic Movement stakeholders, with the support of the Olympic Movement Unit on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions, have been very active against this issue. Initiatives like Sport Integrity Week play an important role in supporting national and international cooperation and offer a tremendous contribution to tackling this threat”.

A coordinated effort

Prevention of competition manipulation requires a joint and well-coordinated effort at national and international level in order to be efficient and successful. Over the last few years, NOCs have played an instrumental role in setting up national policies, enforcing rules, educating their athletes and officials, and even in contributing to investigations and disciplinary proceedings when necessary.

Having the right processes in place, e.g. through national platforms, as well as trustful relations with the other key stakeholders involved, facilitates information exchange and investigations into potential cases.

Sport Integrity Week, which will end on 1 December, includes:

• A high-level capacity-building activity for stakeholders from the aforementioned countries, including high-level discussions, interactive sessions, real-life and hypothetical case scenarios
• A meeting of the Follow-Up Committee of the Macolin Convention in which the IOC has Observer status, representing the whole Olympic Movement
• A national conference on sports integrity organised by the Greek national platform, EPATHLA

Long-standing collaboration between the IOC and INTERPOL

The IOC’s collaboration with INTERPOL during Sport Integrity Week in Athens is yet another example of how the Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations is being turned into action.

The IOC and INTERPOL have partnered since 2014 to assist in the protection of sports integrity through capacity-building and training across the globe – making it one of the longest running partnerships in the fight against competition manipulation, having reached over 10,000 participants so far. These measures have resulted in an increasing number of police forces and sports organisations (especially NOCs and International Federations) that have established a single point of contact for sport integrity matters. This year, INTERPOL celebrates its 100^th anniversary.