Page 17 - THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE’S ACCOUNTABILITY FOR HARMFUL CONSEQUENCES OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES- A MULTI-METHOD INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ANALYSIS Ryan Gautier

Chapter One – Introduction
resolution that “supports the independence and autonomy of sport as well as the mission of the IOC in leading the Olympic Movement.”29 These factors have also led Ken Foster to label the sporting world as a ‘transnational autonomous legal order’, an idea discussed further in Chapter Three.30
The autonomy of the global sporting movement has created a situation where international sporting organisations are unaccountable. From 2006–08, the NGO OneWorldTrust created indices to measure the accountability of various international actors: international organisations, international NGOs, and transnational corporations. The index measured transparency, participation in decision-making, organisation self- evaluation, and complaint-and-response mechanisms.31 The 2007 edition examined FIFA, while the 2008 edition measured the IOC. FIFA was found to be deeply unaccountable, ranking 24th out of 30 organisations measured, and at the bottom of the list of NGOs.32 The IOC performed even worse one year later, being ranked as the least accountable of the thirty measured organisations, ranking behind the Halliburton oil corporation, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization military alliance.33
Roger Pielke Jr. examined the accountability of FIFA in more detail. Pielke found that FIFA was largely unaccountable, except perhaps to market forces.34 Namely, FIFA might face consequences through the withdrawal of sponsorships. This outcome has since come to pass, as sponsors did not renew their commitments with FIFA in 2014/15 in the wake of allegations of corruption.35 However, FIFA is likely to obtain new sponsors, and will likely not be deeply affected. Pielke found that other avenues of accountability, such as the legal system, or influence of peer organisations, were limited at best in their application to FIFA. A similar analysis of the IOC would lead to a similar outcome.
29 G.A. Res. 69/6, ¶ 8, U.N. Doc. A/RES/69/6 (Oct. 31, 2014).
30 Ken Foster, ‘Is There a Global Sports Law?’ (2003) 2 Entertainment Law 1, 2.
31 Robert Lloyd, Shana Warren and Michael Hammer, OneWorldTrust: 2008 Global Accountability Report (2008)
5.
32 Robert Lloyd, Jeffrey Oatham and Michael Hammer, OneWorldTrust: 2007 Global Accountability Report (2007) 7.
33 ibid 6.
34 Pielke (n 22).
35 Owen Gibson, ‘Scandal-Hit FIFA Lose Three More Major Sponsors’ The Guardian (London, 23 January 2015)
<http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/23/fifa-lose-three-sponsors-castrol-continental-tyres-johnson-and- johnson> accessed 17 March 2015.
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