From the Olympics to the Gay Games to the Cricket World Cup, international sports events draw athletes from all over the world. They also have considerable financial clout, with the market for merchandise and broadcasting alone worth billions of dollars.
As a result, power imbalances are rife: where an athlete comes from often determines their success, and even how far they go. This can have serious ramifications for the people who are left behind. As Ankita Anand explains, the inequality is the result of an uneven playing field: the organisations making the rules of sport (FIFA and the IOC) are both based in Europe, where they dominate a global sporting landscape that is inherently biased.
The Olympic Games are the world’s premier multi-sport and multi-country sporting competition, held every four years. There are also the Paralympics, a similar event for athletes with disabilities; and the Summer Universiade, an Olympic-style games for university students.
A number of sports first featured as demonstration events at previous editions of the Olympics, including canoeing at Paris 1924, handball (field) in 1952, badminton at Munich 1972, women’s judo at Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992, taekwondo at Seoul 1988 and Madrid 1992, and tennis at both Mexico 1968 and Los Angeles 1984. They were upgraded to full Olympic status subsequently.
Each nation has a national governing body for each sport, known as a national Olympic committee (NOC). The NOC is responsible for sending athletes to the Olympic Games and other international sporting events sponsored by the IOC. Each sport has its own international federation, which is recognised by the IOC; events within a discipline are called events.