It is the responsibility of sport governing bodies to support and encourage humanitarian athletes who speak out for causes grounded in the principles of Olympism, argue Mary Hums, Eli A. Wolff and Nina Siegfried in this comment.

Backed by Erasmus+ funds, a coalition of European athlete representatives and academics will map existing structures of athlete representation and try to develop new ones over the next three years. Play the Game acts as the coordinator of the project.

IOC President Thomas Bach made it very clear in his New Year’s speech that politics should be kept out of the Olympics to protect the event’s neutrality. However, it is a paradox that IOC’s characterisation of politicisation only seems to apply to athletes and not the host nations, writes Play the Game’s analyst Stanis Elsborg.

It was not primarily the athletes that drove the radical change of the sports agenda in the decade we leave. But there are signs that athletes will be at the heart of the agenda of the 2020’ies, writes Play the Game’s international director in a wind-up of ten turbulent years in world sport.

As Play the Game 2019 comes to an end, a group of athlete organisations sends an open letter to IOC President Thomas Bach to bring attention to the important issue of human rights.

New Olympic and amateur sport legislation in U.S. Congress, while less anti-athlete, must do more to protect child athletes, and so should the IOC. Gigi Alford from the World Players Association and Sport & Rights Alliance comments on a congressional bill.

"Democratically elected governments, who would usually call for civic engagement, seem to prefer athletes that move only those muscles that do not affect the tongue.", says Jens Sejer Andersen, International director at Play the Game, ahead of the Play the Game 2019 conference.

When Play the Game kicks off its 11th world communication conference on society and sport the main theme will be athlete activism and the rights of athletes.