The Olympic System: Toward a Geopolitical Approach

2  The IOC, the Temptation of International Relations 

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the IOC established itself as 

the major international sports organization, mainly because states had no interest 

in it. In that context, it was necessary to form international relations to organize 

the Games. At that time, negotiations were conducted through individual IOC 

members, influential people with extensive social networks. For a very long time, 

the institution built its international relations on an ad hoc basis. The politiciza-

tion of sport and the tensions surrounding the Games eventually led the IOC to 

develop a more circumspect approach to its relations with states. Starting in the 

1950s, the IOC launched a discussion about its status and how it affected its abi-

lity to deal with international relations. Should the organization have a legal cha-

racter; whose laws should it follow? Shaken by a whole series of events, it also had 

to rethink its sporting geography. Actually, for a long time, the sports movement 

thought it could develop its own rules for recognizing countries. But little by  

little, this became an issue that went beyond sports and plunged the IOC into the 

tumult of international relations. Its recognition rules became stricter over time. 

Finally, the 1980s were a turning point in developing external relations that were 

much more systematic in order to strengthen its position as an essential actor in 

international sports management, especially vis-à-vis the UN.