(Sports Focus) Yearender: World sports go through corruption shadow

After the volleyball governing body FIVB president Dr. Ary S. Graca was investigated by Brazil's anti-corruption agency at the end of last year, the world sports were put into shadow and remained in the "dark page" in the year of 2015.

   Seven officials of FIFA were arrested and detained in Switzerland in May just one day before the world soccer governing body's congress. The Swiss Federal Office of Justice said that these officials were accused of taking bribes totaling more than 100 million U.S. dollars from commercial deals dating back to the 1990s for soccer tournaments.

   Also in November, IAAF president Lamine Diack, who had served as the athletics world chief for 16 years until August, was arrested by French investigators and charged of corruption.

   The sensational news of the two sports world governing giants shook the whole sports world and also brought to light a series of corruption cases.

   Therefore, the hosting rights of FIFA World Cup 2018 and 2022 won by Russia and Qatar, were casted into doubt ever since. And a small U.S. town of Eugene, which was awarded to host the IAAF 2021 World Championships in April, was also questioned for the absence of a formal bidding procedure.

   Furthermore, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said in November that Russia had conducted "widespread cheating through the use of doping substances and methods to ensure, or enhance the likelihood of, victory for athletes and teams". Thus, all Russian athletes and support staff were suspended from all international competitions.

   After 40 years in charge of FIFA, the 79-year-old president Joseph S. Blatter was banned for eight years from all football-related activities in December.

   THE END OF "BIG SHOT SPORTS"

   Though being re-elected as FIFA president two days after the arrest of seven officials, Blatter's 17-year stint of soccer chief came to an end along with the year. It was also the year of 2015 that put an end to the dominant Diack and some other big shots in world sports.

   The "big shot sports", which remind people of "corruption" this year, could date back to 1980s. Through efforts of those former chiefs Joao Havelange, Juan Antonio Samaranch and Primo Nebiolo, their organizations of FIFA, IOC (International Olympics Committee) and IAAF have been transformed into world's sports governing bodies with huge commercial influences rather than NOGs like before.

   After some 20 years' stay in power, these big chiefs had evolved into a tenure tradition with unlimited powers and created those "big shots" in world sports. For instance, FIFA statues rule that "recourse to ordinary courts of law is prohibited unless specifically provided for in the FIFA regulations."

   This article justifies FIFA to some extant as an "independent kingdom" in the law system of the world. These related function modes are believed to be the root of corruption, which resulted in the collapse of the "big shot sports" these years.

   Exposure of bribes and kickbacks in the 2002 Winter Olympics bid led to the reform of IOC which limited the tenure to no more than eight years. After the anti-corruption storms in world sports this year, both FIFA and IAAF were also reported to launch reforms to stop the "big shot era".

   CREDIBILITY CRISIS

   Anti-corruption efforts hopefully could win back the confidence to world sports, however, geopolitical disturbance might still dampen the credibility crisis furthermore.

   It is the United States that pushed for the arrestment and investigation of the FIFA officials in May after the Ukraine crisis had torn apart the relations between Russia and west countries. With the exposure of the FIFA corruption case, Russia's host right of 2018 World Cup was also put into suspicion.

   "This is another blatant attempt to extend U.S. jurisdiction to other countries, also an attempt to prevent the re-election of Blatter," Russian president Vladimir Putin said.

   Though Blatter was finally banned from football activities, Russia kept intact of its hosting right for 2018 World Cup.

   Jack Warner, former FIFA vice president said that if the United States had won the bid for 2022 World Cup, which it lost to Qatar, there might not be the ongoing corruption investigation towards FIFA.

   Analysts believe that anti-corruption in sports is necessary, but "selective investigation" being conducted by the United States might lead to even more serious credibility crisis in the world sports.  Endi