Investigative reporter Jens Weinreich has reviewed how more than 100 international sports organisations have responded to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. Both the IOC and the majority of federations still provide cover for Russian sport officials and national federations.

The IOC and the Olympic federations are obliged to do much more to punish Russia and its warmonger, Vladimir Putin, argues investigative reporter Jens Weinreich and provides a long list of examples. He calls for a comprehensive independent criminal investigation of the longstanding deep connection of the Olympic institutions with the Kremlin within the framework of the EU.

The Olympic Games thrive on high-performing children – some of them so young that they are not even allowed to compete in the Youth Olympic Games. Jens Weinreich discusses why it is so hard for Olympic sports federations to set age limits and shows how it leaves child athletes vulnerable to authoritarian states chasing medals and sport glory.

In 2020, Belarusian athletes forced the IOC to suspend the head of the Belarusian NOC, Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko, but the regime of ‘Europe’s last dictator’ still controls Belarusian sport, and athletes are still detained and fined for expressing their political views without help from the IOC.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, Olympic power broker, has been sentenced to prison in a criminal court. Investigative reporter Jens Weinreich has observed the Kuwaiti Sheikh for many years and has been threatened by the Sheikh’s aides several times. He describes the methods that brought Ahmad to power and assesses the implications of the conviction for the Sheikh and the Olympic system. Not much is likely to change.

What does the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and space politics have to do with each other? Quite a lot and it demonstrates China’s ability to mix sport and politics in their national self-promotion, writes senior analyst Stanis Elsborg.

Sports governance worldwide has had the legs knocked out from under it. Yet, national and international sports administrators are slow in realizing the magnitude of what has hit them.

Today, Thomas Bach has been re-elected as IOC President for a final four year term without any opponents or opposition. Using Bach’s doctoral thesis as a departure point, Jens Weinreich describes how constantly planning for the future has provided Bach with an unprecedented hold on power in the Olympic system.