The project on strengthening athlete power in sport (SAPIS) has released a review of academic literature about athletes and sports governance and makes it available for free to anyone with an interest in the subject.

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.

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.

When partners in the SAPIS project met in Denmark in February, they expressed great hopes for the outcomes of the project as the need for empowering athletes and ensuring their voices are heard in sports organisations is pressing.

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.

To Global Athlete Director General Rob Koehler, sports democracy is ‘a democracy limited for the few’ that needs to change. The former WADA Deputy Director General heads up an international athlete-led movement that was established earlier this year in order to promote athletes’ rights all over the world.

Aided by social media, athletes are increasingly speaking out against perceived injustices. Political movements like #metoo and #blacklivesmatter have spilled over into the sporting arena. Should athletes enjoy the same freedoms as others to protest?