Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 8, sports special report Sports commentary: looking for the "greatest common divisor" of the Olympic reform

Xinhua News Agency reporter Gao Peng

On the 7th and 8th, the IOC held an executive meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, and decided to suspend the cooperation with the World Sports Federation and stop providing financial support to it. This action reflects the determination and boldness of the IOC to remove obstacles and continue to promote the reform intention of the Olympic 2020 Agenda. However, under the complex multi interest game, only by maintaining unity within the Olympic family and finding the "greatest common denominator" of reform can the reform boat reach the intended waters smoothly.

Last December, all 40 reform proposals put forward in the Olympic 2020 Agenda were adopted at the 127th Session of the IOC. There is no doubt that the Olympic Movement needs self innovation, but there are still differences on how to change it. At the International Sports Conference held at the end of April this year, the President of the World Sports Federation Wei Ze publicly criticized the poor reform of the International Olympic Committee and asked it to improve its internal transparency and give more voice to Olympic affairs. Although there is public opinion that Weize's "shelling" of the IOC is for its own interests, it at least shows that there are different voices within the Olympic family regarding the reform goals and paths led by the IOC.

The Olympic Charter clearly points out that the International Olympic Committee, international sports organizations and national (regional) Olympic Committees constitute the three pillars of the Olympic Movement. However, in Weize's view, the International Olympic Committee has been in a dominant position since the birth of the modern Olympic Games more than 100 years ago. Although the IAAF, FIFA and other international sports organizations are the actual organizers of various competitions of the Olympic Games, and the athletes, the "protagonists" of the Olympic Games, are also directly under the management of their respective international sports organizations, the maximum number of members from international sports organizations can only be 15 out of the 115 (upper limit) IOC members. Therefore, whether it is the choice of the host city of the Olympic Games, or the fate of the Olympic projects and the share of the revenue from the Olympic market development, the international sports organizations have a limited voice. It was against this background that Weize proposed to create a comprehensive world championship led by an international sports organization and held every four years. However, President Bach of the International Olympic Committee firmly opposed the proposal, which intensified the contradiction between the two.

Objectively speaking, this shelling event, if viewed from the perspective of some non Olympic or weak international sports organizations, reflects their demands to share more market interests and voice. After all, the members of the World Sports Federation have more than 90 sports events, and it is impossible to meet the aspirations of all events to enter the Olympic Games. However, Wei Ze's idea of creating a comprehensive world championship outside the Olympic Games is tantamount to challenging the authoritative position established by the International Olympic Committee for many years. If this idea becomes a reality, it is also a direct confrontation with the Olympic Games, and the outcome is likely to be a lose lose situation. This situation is not what all the international sports organizations want to see, which is also the reason why Venezuela has not received widespread support and finally had to resign.

In fact, the ongoing reform of the International Olympic Committee has made efforts to make the Olympic Movement benefit more sports and more people. The Olympic 2020 Agenda proposes that the Olympic Games will change the top management of major events into the top management of minor events, and will no longer limit the establishment of events to 28 major events, which means that the Olympic Games will open its doors to more sports in the future. The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee discussed on the same day the proposals for new projects for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In the era of sports commercialization, the Olympic Movement, which advocates unity and cooperation, also has interest disputes, but confrontation and conflict do not meet the will of most people. The reform of the Olympic Movement is currently at a critical stage. The IOC must pay close attention to the interests of all parties, seek common ground while reserving differences to the maximum extent, and find the "greatest common denominator". Only when consensus is reached can reform be further promoted and the Olympic Movement achieve sustainable development.