The 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics bid scandal involved bribery allegations against members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Salt Lake Organising Committee in awarding the rights to host the games. These allegations resulted in six members of the IOC being expelled. This expulsion is believed to be the first of its kind in the history of the IOC, as the cash payments, gifts and privileges received by the members from the organising committee were confirmed. Today, many believe that this was the case that started the ball rolling for regulators to begin looking seriously at corruption within sporting organisations and one that also provided the US Department of Justice (DOJ) the fundamentals and the experience to investigate FIFA in 2015.

The year 2015 saw football’s governing body, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) engulfed by allegations of prevalent corruption within the 112-year-old organisation, when several top executives were indicted for fraud and corruption by the US Department of Justice. The now well-known scandal involved bribery and corruption allegations against FIFA officials, sports marketing groups and broadcasting corporations for television rights to broadcast the World Cup and other international football tournaments. The amount involved – a reported $150 million. These allegations have also cost the careers of the two most powerful men in football – Sepp Blatter (FIFA President) and Michel Platini (UEFA President). 25 other FIFA officials and 5 marketing and broadcasting executives have also been charged by the DOJ. Questions have also been raised into the bidding results of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar respectively. The US federal judge overseeing the wide range of corruption activities involved in this scandal announced that a trial for eight defendants could begin as early as September or October 2017.

The doping scandal involving the IAAF was a result of a whistleblowing act, when the IAAF’s blood tests results for athletes competing in major competitions were leaked. Almost a third of medal winning athletes were found to have suspicious blood test results. Despite members of the IAAF being aware, these athletes were allowed to continue competing. This scandal can be best summed up by Russia’s alleged state sponsored doping situation, where athletes paid bribes and senior figures extorted money to cover up doping acts. A vicious cycle ensued when those who were aware of such behaviour, did nothing to stop it. As a result, at least 100 Russian athletes were banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics, and large corporations such as Nestlé and Adidas have pulled the plug on multi-million dollar sponsorship deals with the IAAF.

In tennis, widespread corruption in the form of match fixing was unveiled in 2016 – involving top ranked players and matches at Wimbledon. Leaked documents have led anti-corruption investigators to believe that the sport’s authorities have covered up the magnitude of the problem with some of the suspects still in the game today. In 2007, an examination of 26,000 matches were provided to tennis’s governing bodies, with enough evidence within to call out those involved, but nothing was done. On February 11th 2016, four tennis umpires were reported to have been suspended by the Tennis Integrity Unit in an anti-corruption investigation, and on May 6th 2016, anti-corruption investigations ensued with the French Tennis Federation raided by the French financial prosecution service amid alleged corruption and ticket trafficking. With scrutiny starting to build against unethical practices in the sport, it is not surprising that more punishment for corruption will unfold in the tennis world.