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.

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.

The upcoming 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo has raised questions about national identity and belonging among the Japanese population. Especially tennis player Naomi Osaka, who is daughter of a Japanese mother and a Haitian father, has been subject to some surviving racism in Japan, Asger Røjle Christensen reports from the Japanese capital.

Traditionally, Japanese sport has a tough hierarchy, but in the run up to next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo both the media and the public has begun to critically examine the traditional practice.

Once again, a major sports event is met with criticism for being placed in a semi-authoritarian regime with bad human rights records. The EOC vice president defends the decision of awarding the European Games to Minsk but is ready to discuss how to implement broader human rights demands for countries hosting Olympic events.

The governance of the Olympic Winter sports is improving, a new review reveals and places skiing as the best-governed winter sports.

The inclusion of esports as a medal sport in the 2022 Asian Games has been put on hold after a recent OCA statement. A debate about esports’ possible admittance at the 2024 Paris Olympics is currently going on.