Page 14 - THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE’S ACCOUNTABILITY FOR HARMFUL CONSEQUENCES OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES- A MULTI-METHOD INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ANALYSIS Ryan Gautier

Chapter One – Introduction
order to begin to address the worst outcomes of the Olympic Games, the overarching problem of a lack of accountability amongst the relevant actors needs to be examined.
The focus of this research will be on the IOC and the Olympic Games. Although there are many similarities between the Olympic Games and other sports mega-events, I have selected the IOC for examination because the Olympic Games are the world’s premier sports mega-event.16 Additionally, the IOC is at the pinnacle of the global sporting system, namely the Olympic Movement. As such, actions undertaken by the IOC are likely to influence the decisions and processes of the sporting organisations operating under its umbrella.17 Thus, although the research focuses primarily on the Olympic Games, the findings in this thesis are relevant to other sports mega-events, and even other mega- projects more generally.
2.1. Defining Accountability
Throughout this thesis, I will refer to the concept of accountability. The term used in everyday speech without much thought given to what precisely it entails.18 Scholars have put forth a plethora of definitions of accountability.19 While a definition is needed, spending too much time parsing definitions runs the risk of undermining the efficiency of the research project, and suffocating the capacity of the researcher.20 By using an already- existing definition of accountability, this work can also contribute to and build on the systematic, scholarly analysis engaged in by prior authors using a shared understanding.
16 Several attempts have been made to define a ‘sporting mega-event’. See Wolfgang Maennig and Andrew Zimbalist, ‘What is a Mega Sporting Event’ in Wolfgang Maennig and Andrew Zimbalist (eds), International Handbook on the Economics of Mega Sporting Events (Edward Elgar 2012) 9—10; John Horne and Wolfram Manzenreiter, ‘An Introduction to the Sociology of Sports Mega-Events’ in John Horne and Wolfram Manzenreiter (eds), Sports Mega-Events: Social Scientific Analysis of a Global Phenomenon (Wiley-Blackwell 2006) 2; Maruice Roche, Mega-Events and Modernity: Olympic and Expos in the Growth of Global Culture (Routledge 2000) 1; J.R. Brent Ritchie ‘Assessing the Impact of Hallmark Events: Conceptual and Research Issues’ (1984) 23 Journal of Travel Research 2, 2. Regardless of the definition used, the Olympic Games are always perceived as a sporting mega-event.
17 Mary A. Hums and Joanne C. Maclean, Governance and Policy in Sport Organizations (3rd ed., Holcomb Hathaway 2013) 69.
18 Mark Bovens, ‘Two Concepts of Accountability: Accountability as a Virtue and as a Mechanism’ (2010) 33 West European Politics 946–47.
19 See, e.g., Jean-Loup Chappelet, ‘Towards Better Olympic Accountability’ (2011) 14 Sport in Society 319, 320; Bovens, ‘Two Concepts of Accountability’ (n 18) 946–48; Mark Philip, ‘Delimiting Democratic Accountability’ (2009) 57 Political Studies 28, 28–32.
20 Barrie Houlihan, ‘Accountability and Good Governance’ in Jens Alm (ed) Action for Good Governance in International Sports Organisations (Play the Game/Danish Institute for Sports Studies 2013) 22.
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