AThe athletes here at the Paris Olympics have given us magical performances, from US gymnast Simone Biles to French swimmer Léon Marchand to Ankita Dhyani, a 5,000-meter runner from India who we watched lap the purple oval at the Stade de France and come in last, but still received thunderous applause as she crossed the finish line as if she had won the race. Olympians are what make the Olympics so special.
But behind the glitz of sporting brilliance and endurance lurk stark inequalities everywhere. The gap between millionaire Olympians like Novak Djokovic and LeBron James and athletes from lesser-known sports like canoe slalom and badminton is as wide as the Grand Canyon. The advantages that powerful countries like the United States, China and France have over nations with GDPs smaller than some American cities are clear to see in the Olympic medal table. But perhaps the most serious inequality – and one that too often escapes public attention, let alone scrutiny – is the gaping chasm between the luxurious existence of the International Olympic Committee and most Olympians themselves.
The IOC’s slogan is “Athletes come first,” but all too often athletes end up in last place.
The reallocation of Olympic funds is a good place to start. The IOC is officially a non-profit, but it is definitely profitable. According to its most recent annual report, the organization took in $7.6 billion during the 2017-2020-21 Olympic cycle. A 2019 study by Toronto Metropolitan University and Global Athlete found that only 4.1% of Olympic revenue goes into athletes’ pockets (while for the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB, it’s more like 45-50%). The IOC often reminds us that it reallocates 90% of its funds, but only a measly 0.5% gets Direct Compensation for athletes.
In the run-up to the Paris Olympics, Global Athlete, the athlete-led group fighting for greater rights and higher salaries, released a statement claiming that the Olympics “serve the interests of the few powerful people behind the International Olympic Committee” and that “the Olympics do not serve the interests of athletes… because the IOC, which exercises complete control over all matters related to the Games, operates without accountability.”
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic – the IOC decided to host the Games despite high transmission rates and a national poll showing that 83% of people in Tokyo did not want the Games. The pandemic was a challenging time for anyone organizing a major event, not least the IOC. But the organization took measures that seemed to prioritize its own finances over athletes.
Certainly the IOC and local organizers in Paris did not put athletes “first” when they decided to hold the triathlon and swim marathon in the Seine. The sight of athletes vomiting as they exited the Seine or reports of illness due to E.coli were not unpredictable. We spoke to people in the Paris office of the Surfrider Foundation, an environmental group that has been detecting high and dangerous levels of E.coli and enterococci for months. And Surfrider noted that, in accordance with the European Bathing Water Directive, they only tested for bacteria, not pesticide runoff, pharmaceutical residues or toxic metals. But the French government has poured $1.5 billion into cleaning up the Seine—the images of people swimming in the Seine for the first time in a century were irresistible, and athletes were put last.
Read more: Insights into the billion-dollar operation to clean up the Seine
While many athletes live hand to mouth, the IOC enjoys a life of opulence. Here in Paris, its members stay in the posh Hôtel du Collectionneur, which the IOC rents out for a whopping €22 million ($24 million). IOC members also enjoy extravagant perks like first-class flights and five-star accommodation. And they receive daily allowances of up to $900 on days they attend the Olympic Games and other official IOC events. That means an IOC member could be making more money. in daily allowances aloneas a U.S. Olympian winning a bronze medal and the $15,000 that comes with it from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Back at the Hôtel du Collectionneur in Paris, the IOC has banned reporters from entering the building where they reside for the first time in decades. Decision-making is also becoming increasingly centralized, led by a small team of senior executives that includes current President Thomas Bach of Germany. Small groups of loyal IOC members – so-called Future Host Commissions – now essentially decide which cities will host the Olympics, while the rest of the organization acts as a rubber stamp.
For all these reasons, it is time to abolish the IOC in its current form. That may sound radical, but the IOC has yet to find an answer to the role the Games play in wasting public money, encouraging displacement, and increasing police presence in Olympic host cities. Given the air miles and huge construction projects, it is also time to end the illusion that the current version of the Games is environmentally sustainable. Just ask the people of Teahupo’o, Tahiti, the host of the Paris 2024 surfing competition, who protested the construction of an Olympic-standard observation tower that damaged the community’s delicate coral reef and could potentially affect its ecosystem for decades.
The current IOC should be replaced by athletes and independent thinkers who are not afraid of drastic change. This includes embedding democratic decision-making at all levels, refusing to award hosting rights to the Games to blatant human rights violators, and ensuring that athletes receive a bigger piece of the Olympic money pie.
In the age of climate change, such measures are particularly necessary, if not inevitable. Here in Paris, Madeleine Orr, assistant professor of sports ecology at the University of Toronto, made this abundantly clear to us. “Sustainable Olympics are a contradiction in terms,” she said. “And the (Olympic) model is completely unsustainable. They will not be able to continue with it for much longer.”
At the opening ceremony of the Paris Games, IOC President Bach gave a speech. As he delivered his speech in the rain, an assistant held an umbrella over Bach’s head to keep him from getting wet (unlike the flag bearers, volunteers and fans in attendance). The image was dripping with symbolism. One reality for the IOC and another for everyone else.
