Corruption of Officials and Judges
By: Elizabeth Molinari
Corruption in sports has often been big news. Whether related to match-fixing
in soccer, be them in Italy, Germany, Kenya, Brazil, China, or elsewhere, or in other
sports. Or buying the votes of some members of the International Olympics Committee,
so to give the award to the the briber’s city. Or judges making backroom deals in figure
skating. While such cases of corruption have taken place, it is not clear that it is a
systemic scourge in most sports.
Corruption has been recognized as one of the biggest threats to modern sport
which essentially undermines all Olympic ideals. Bribing arbiters and decision-makers,
betting scandals, corruption in procurement systems and construction of sport
infrastructure, demonstrate a wide range of possibilities for corruption in sports. Not
only does corruption turn the game into a deception of rivals, it deceives the audience
and destroys the dreams of millions of fans.
Corruption -> Corruption may come in many forms, often in politics and sport. There is
corruption in the police force, in law and order and even in the management of the Olympic
Games. Corruption is caused mainly by the desires of power and want. Corruption is not
necessarily bad, but very often creates a negative atmosphere.
Cheating
An attempt to gain an unfair advantage in training or competition by using methods or
equipment prohibited by the rules of sport.
Including:
o Using banned performance-enhancing techniques
o Use of illegal equipment
o Attempt to influence the judges or officials through bribes
o Attempt to influence the efforts of your opponents through bribes
Cheating within Sports
o
o
Different sport bodies deal with cheaters in different ways, depending
on the transgression.
For example, some leagues or sport organizations ban players for
cheating; others are more lenient, giving the cheating player a
suspension.
Corruption of Officials and Judges
o
o
Unethical officials and judges have been a problem at the Olympic
games since the modern games began.
An example includes the figure skating competition at the 2002 Winter
Games in which Canadian skaters Sale and Pelletier “lost” gold medals
through corrupt judging and were then awarded them retroactively
Olympic Bribery
o
o
o
Pierre de Coubertin created the Modern Olympics with the ideal that
countries could compete ethically and with respect for one another.
Sport witnessed passionate nationalism following WWII and the “Cold
War,” sometimes leading to bribery as nations tried to gain an edge in
competition.
An example would be the Salt Lake City Olympic Bid, 2002 Winter
Olympics.
A Strategy for Ethical Conduct in Sport
Sports communities and the Canadian government have been calling
for more attention to be paid to ethical issues in sport.
The Canadian Strategy for Ethical Conduct in Sport was developed to:
o Ensure participation in sport is safe at all levels
o Prevent doping in sport
o Prevent violence and harassment in sport
o Create a place where sport disputes can be dealt with
o Promote fair play in sport
2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal
In the figure skating pairs competition, Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of
Russia had won the short program over Jamie Salé and David Pelletier of Canada. In the free
skate, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze made a minor (but obvious) technical error when
Sikharulidze stepped out of a double axel. Meanwhile, Salé and Pelletier skated a flawless
program.
The Canadians were the clear crowd favorite; they left the ice to a round of stormy
applause and chants of "Six! Six! Six!" They received three 5.9s for technical merit, while the
Russians received mostly 5.8s and 5.7s. However, for presentation, the Canadians received four
5.9s to the Russians' seven. Presentation was weighted more heavily than technical merit at the
time; the Canadians needed at least five 5.9s to overtake the Russians for first. There was
obvious disagreement from the crowd expressed by a chorus of boos when the presentation
marks came out.
Salé and Pelletier accepted their silver medal with grace but open disappointment. It was
the 11th consecutive time that a pair from the Soviet Union, the Unified Team, or Russia had
taken the gold in the pair’s competition.
Works Cited
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20 May 2011.
<http://www.transparency.org/news_room/in_focus/2008/corruption_in_sports>.
Kaufmann. "Threat to Sports: Corruption or Politics?" The Kaufmann Governance Post. 18 May
2008. Web. 20 May 2011. <http://thekaufmannpost.net/sports-threat-corruption-or-politicaltool/>.
Temertzoglou, Ted, and Paul Challen. "Exercise Science - Online Resources for Students." Home |
Thompson Educational Publishing. Thompson Educational Publishing, 2009. Web. 20 May
2011. <http://thompsonbooks.com/exercisescience/>.
"YouTube - Figure Skating Scandal of 2002 SLC." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 12 Aug. 2007.
Web. 20 May 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQww4LzujqE>.
"2002 Olympic Winter Games Figure Skating Scandal." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 20
May 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Olympic_Winter_Games_figure_skating_scandal>.