The Olympic fight against match-fixing

Match-fixing has been designated as a new scourge of sport at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and sports organizations as well as other stakeholders have started to fight against it as they did against doping a few decades ago. This article summarizes, on the basis of document analysis, the approach taken by the Olympic organizations – first among them the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – to fight match-fixing as defined in a recent treaty by the Council of Europe. It first gives a few recent examples of match-fixing at the Olympic Games. A second section examines the step-by-step approach of the IOC to take leadership in this fight during the Rogge and at the start of the Bach IOC presidencies. The conclusion summarizes the main issues to be solved with regard to the many countries, sports and betting operators which must be considered to start this fight.