What is an IOC? The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is an international non-profit non-governmental organization based in Lausanne (Switzerland). It was created by Pierre de Coubertin on June 23, 1894, and Dimitri Vikelas became its first president. Today it consists of 100 active members, 32 honorary members and 1 member of honor. The Committee is the highest organ of the modern world Olympic movement.
What is an IOC?
The International Olympic Committee organizes the modern Olympic and Youth Olympic Games, held in the summer and winter every four years. The first summer Olympic Games organized by the IOC took place in the homeland of the Olympics, in Athens, in 1896. For the first time in the history of mankind (the Winter Games were not held in Ancient Greece), the Winter Olympics took place in 1924 in the city of Chamonix, in northern France. Until 1992, both the Games were held in the same year. After that, the Committee shifted the Winter Olympic Games in even years between summers to help the organizers of both events coordinate their activities and not interfere with each other, as well as to improve the financial condition of the IOC, which receives a lot of income in the Olympic years. The first Summer Youth Olympic Games were held in Singapore in 2010, and the first winter in Innsbruck in 2012.
What does the flag of the International Olympic Committee look like?
The IOC flag is a combination of five rings (three on top, two on bottom). They are intertwined. Each ring has its own color: blue, black, red, yellow and green. All of them mean the five continents of the Earth. The flag of IOC has a white background.
IOC Mission
The mission of the International Olympic Committee, according to its statutory documents, is to promote the Olympians around the world and to popularize the Olympic movement. He should do the following:
- to support the full and systematic development of sports throughout the world, to promote its distribution throughout the planet;
- ensure the holding of the Games in accordance with the established schedule;
- cooperate with competent state or private organizations and authorities;
- fight against any attempt to discredit the Olympic movement;
- fight discrimination against women in world sports; protect equality between men and women.
IOC Session
The session of the International Olympic Committee is the main collegial governing body of the organization. She meets once a year. The principle of equality of votes is implemented, in which each member has only one vote. The IOC headquarters in Lausanne is the official venue for the session.
Extraordinary sessions can be convened either by the president or 1/3 of the total number of members. However, the Regulation says that such an IOC decision is too often and unreasonable.
Among other things, the IOC session has the right:
- accept or amend the Olympic Charter.
- elect members of the IOC, honorary president and honorary members.
- elect the president, vice presidents and all other members of the IOC Executive Board.
- elect host cities of the Olympic Games.
Honors
In addition to the Olympic medals for competitors, the following IOC awards are available:
1. Trophy of the President of the IOC. It is the highest award given to athletes who excelled in their sport, had an extraordinary career and had an impressive impact on their sport.
2. Medal of Pierre de Coubertin. It is awarded to athletes who demonstrate a particular sporting spirit at the Olympic Games. Many previously believed that the IOC officially calls the Olympic medals themselves, but this is not so.
3. Olympic Cup. It is awarded to institutions or associations indicating merit and contribution to the active development of the Olympic movement.
4. Olympic Order. Awarded to individuals for their outstanding contributions to the Olympic movement. It replaced the previously existing Olympic certificate.
IOC Membership
Over the years, the countries from which the entire structure of the IOC is formed sent two members to the IOC. Later, the order began to gradually change. As a result, the basis was the formation in the elections of the respective country committees from among their members.
Membership Termination
Membership in the IOC terminates in the following cases:
1. Resignation . An IOC member may terminate his authority by submitting a written letter of resignation to the president.
2. Lack of re-election. A member of the IOC ceases to be without further formalities if he is not re-elected.
3. Reaching the maximum age. A member of the IOC shall terminate at the end of the year during which he has reached the age of 80.
4 . Refusal to attend sessions for two consecutive years.
5. Change of place of residence or citizenship.
6. Persons elected as active athletes cease to be members of the IOC Athletes Commission when they complete their careers.
7. The President of the IOC and senior management positions within the NOC, the world or the continental associations of the NOC, IFs and so on, recognized as having ceased their powers by decision of the IOC.
8. Exception: a member of the IOC may be expelled by decision of the session if he has betrayed his oath, or if the Session considers that he has neglected the interests of the IOC or deliberately jeopardizes them, or acted in a manner that is unworthy of a member of the IOC.
IOC Financing
In the early 1980s, the Olympic Games depended heavily on revenue from one source — contracts with US television companies for broadcasting the Olympic Games. Following his election to the presidency of the IOC in 1980, Juan Antonio Samaranch recognized this vulnerability and, in consultation with Horst Dassler, a member of the Adidas family, decided to launch the IOC global marketing program. Samaranch has appointed Canadian IOC Member Richard Pound as Chairman of the IOC New Sources of Finance Commission.
In 1982, the Swiss sports marketing company ISL Marketing developed for the IOC a global marketing program for the Olympic movement. ISLs successfully developed the program, but were replaced by the management company Meridian, which is partly owned by the IOC since the early 1990s.
In 1989, ISL Marketing employee Michael Payne joined the IOC and became the organization’s first director of marketing. However, ISL and subsequently Meridian played a nonetheless significant role in increasing the number of sales and marketing agents for 2002. For 17 years, in collaboration with ISL and subsequently with Meridian, Payne made a major contribution to the creation of a multi-billion dollar sponsorship marketing program that, along with improved TV marketing and better financial management, helped restore IOC’s financial viability. The Olympics began to bring huge revenues. In 2002, the Committee ended its relationship with Meridian and headed for its marketing program under the leadership of Timo Lumme, managing director of marketing services.
Income
The Olympic movement earns revenue through five major programs. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) manages broadcast partnerships and the World Olympic Movement Sponsorship Program. Organizing committees for managing internal sponsors, ticket sales, and program licensing in the host country are also led by the IOC. The Olympics receives a total of more than $ 4 billion in revenue. The record for interim periods is $ 2.5 billion in revenue during the Olympic four-year period from 2001 to 2004. It’s hard to believe that such an IOC receives in 4 years, but their marketing really brings serious results.
Revenue distribution
The IOC distributes part of the revenue to organizations throughout the Olympic Movement to support the preparation and conduct of the Olympic Games and to promote the development of sports worldwide. The International Olympic Committee saves about 10% of the revenue from Olympic marketing for operational and administrative expenses.
National Olympic Committees
NOCs receive financial support for the training and development of Olympic teams, Olympic athletes and future athletes. The organization distributes revenue between Committees around the world. The Committee also contributes to Olympic television and radio broadcasting, the development of Olympic solidarity, as well as to other Olympic projects that have the greatest funding needs.
The success of Olympic marketing and the conclusion of Olympic broadcasting agreements allowed the organization to provide increased support for the NOC with each Olympic four-year cycle.
International Olympic Sports Federations (ISF)
The IOC is currently the largest source of income for most IFs, as its contribution from the organization’s income helps IFs to develop relevant sports around the world. The IOC provides financial support, starting with the 28th IFF in Olympic summer sports and ending with the 7th IFF in Olympic winter sports (it begins, respectively, after the completion of the next cycle of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games). The ever-increasing cost of the Olympic Broadcasting Partnership has allowed the IOC to significantly increase the financial support of the IFs with each subsequent game.
Other organizations
The organization promotes the participation of its revenues in the programs of various recognized international sports organizations, including the International Paralympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Most often they act in one direction, but contradictions do occur. For example, the disagreement between WADA and the IOC regarding the admission of the Russian team at the Olympics 2016 (this will be discussed below).
Sponsors
The IOC has a large number of sponsors who also provide, among other things, additional revenue to the organization. Among them, the most famous are:
- "Coca Cola";
- Bridgestone
- General Electrics;
- McDonald's
- "Panasonic";
- Procter & Gamble;
- Samsung
- "Toyota";
- "Visa".
Part of the sponsorship comes from the support of the National Olympic Committees.
Venue OI-1976
Initially, the following cities claimed for the OI-1976:
1. Denver, Colorado, USA.
2. Sion, Switzerland.
3. Tampere, Finland.
4. Vancouver, Canada.
Initially, the city of the Games was Denver on May 12, 1970. However, an increase in expenses and worries about the detrimental effect on the environment (a 3-fold deterioration in its condition) led to the fact that on November 7, 1972, residents of the state voted to refuse to host the Games, because otherwise they would have to issue bonds in the amount of $ 5 million for public funding.
Denver officially refused on November 15, and the Committee then proposed holding games in Whistler (British Columbia, Canada), but they also refused because of a change of government after the election.
Salt Lake City (Utah) in 1972 offered himself as a potential host of the Games after Denver's refusal (in the end, as we know, they accepted the 2002 Games). The International Olympic Committee, still not recovering from Denver's refusal, chose Innsbruck (Austria) to host the 1976 Winter Olympics. Before that, Innsbruck had already hosted the Winter Olympics in 1964.
Scandal with the Olympics-2002 in Salt Lake City
Scandal erupted on December 10, 1998, when a Swiss member of the organization, Mark Hodler, the head of the coordinating committee overseeing the organization of OI-2002, announced that several IOC members were taking bribes. Soon, four independent investigations were conducted by various organizations: the IOC, the US Olympic Committee, and the US Department of Justice.
Before the investigation, the leaders of the ACL Welch and Johnson resigned. Many other IOC members soon followed them. The Ministry of Justice indicted the leaders: they demanded that each be given fifteen years on charges of bribery and fraud. Johnson and Welch were ultimately acquitted of all criminal charges in December 2003.
As a result of the investigation, ten members of the IOC were expelled and another ten were subjected to various sanctions. This was the first exception or sanction for corruption in more than one hundred years of the Committee's existence. Although nothing strictly illegal was done, the view was expressed that accepting bribes was morally questionable. Strict rules were adopted for future applications, and highlighted how many IOC members could accept applications for games.
Other contradictions
In 2006, according to the report of the Governor of Nagano (Japan), millions of dollars allocated for the Olympics were spent in the form of "illegal and excessive levels of hospitality" for members of the Committee, including $ 4.4 million of them for entertainment. This was followed by an investigation and the dismissal of several members of the Organization.
Many international groups opposed the Beijing Olympics, arguing that there were a lot of human rights violations in the country. A lot of hearings were held regarding these claims, but in the end, the organization issued a statement that the 2008 Olympics will be held in Beijing.
In 2010, the International Olympic Committee was awarded a special award. It is awarded to the worst and "disgusting" corporate organizations around the world.
Before the start of the 2012 Olympics, the Committee decided not to spend a moment of silence in order to commemorate the 11 Israeli Olympians who were killed in Munich at the Olympics 40 years ago. Jacques Rogge, president of the IOC at the time, said it would be "inappropriate" to do this, which caused widespread publicity.
Doping scandal
In addition, as a result of the famous doping scandal in July 2016, according to the results of studies by the World Anti-Doping Association, a report by the American scientist and journalist McLaren, as well as decisions made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the IOC decision almost excluded the Russian team from the Olympic Games in Rio de -Janeiro. The IOC meeting in Lausanne ended up with tough conditions for Russians to be admitted to the Olympics, and the athletes were completely removed by the whole team, both those who took doping and those who were not involved in all these matters.