When the Japanese people now faces dramatic cost overruns while preparing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, they are not the first to learn a hard economic lesson. A recent academic study argues that the Olympic Games are naturally subject to severe cost overruns, while the IOC criticises the study for mixing budgets and attributing non-Olympic costs to the Olympic budget. This article examines claims and counter-claims in the debate about Olympic costs.

The wounds in the international anti-doping community are unlikely to be healed after the Court of Arbitration for Sport put a legal end to six years of the Russian-international doping scandal. Was CAS under influence of the IOC, or is sports law not strong enough yet?

In a statement, the IOC appears to finally put an end to 23 years of loyal co-operation with the dictator of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. However, with its provisional measures the IOC is keeping the door open for Lukashenko and his allies to return to the Olympic fold.

Lawyer Sylvia Schenk adds her voice to the many calls on the IOC to clarify what it counts as a political statement for athletes, and to resolve its own dilemma in Belarus.

Rule 50.2 in the IOC’s Charter is a clear violation of the human rights of athletes to free speech and expression, argues Nikki Dryden who proposes a framework for how the IOC should view speech and create a fair and transparent process for alleged breaches of Rule 50.2.

For the first time it can be revealed in detail how much cash the IOC paid to an Olympic host. Investigative journalist Jens Weinreich publishes the list of 117 payments to Rio 2016 in a worldwide exclusive in his magazine SPORT & POLITICS. The revelation helps to understand one of the most fundamental questions around the Olympic movement these days: What kind of contribution can Tokyo 2020 really expect from the IOC?

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.

For the first time, the International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport invited all nations of the world to join in. While other stakeholders are still kept outside, governments now seem to be engaging more in fighting corruption inside and around the organisations that run sport.