Co-presenting the IOC ‘On the Line with an expert’ session on safeguarding athletes in the Olympic Movement
Date: JuNE 2024
It was a pleasure to co-present the International Olympic Committee – IOC Safe Sport Research Strategy to fellow academics, together with Kirsty Charlotte Burrows, IOC Head of Safe Sport.
At the end of each session, we asked the researchers in the audience what they were currently working on. They highlighted a diverse range of important topics. Key areas of focus included the leadership skills of Olympic athletes and their role in promoting safe sports, as well as various forms of interpersonal violence, such as weight-related maltreatment, sexual abuse, harassment, mental abuse, and cyber abuse. There was also significant discussion around the normalization of abuse in athletes’ perceptions and the importance of addressing intersectional identity violence and ensuring the re-engagement of survivors in sports.
Safeguarding was a prominent theme, with discussions on perceptions among parasport athletes, safeguarding in Esports, and the broader need for effective safeguarding strategies and understanding risk factors for violence in sports. Youth well-being and inclusion, especially the importance of their voices in research, were emphasized, along with the barriers for disclosing and reporting violence among teammates.
Tine co-presenting the IOC ‘On the line with an expert’ session on Safeguarding Athletes in the Olympic Movement, together with IOC Head of Safe Sport Kirsty Burrows, hosted by Maria Bogner, head of the Olympic Studies Center.
Photo credits: 📷 Pierre-Adrien Lagrange, IOC
Education and policy development were also crucial topics, particularly in the Global South, and the challenges of implementing policies in non-democratic regions. Participants are also exploring the ethical dimensions of sports, human rights, freedom of expression for athletes.
Researchers underscored the need for research on integrating safeguarding measures from top organizations down to local clubs, the cultural impact on safeguarding, and the use of AI in policy development. Additionally, tools to support coaches in adopting a violence-free leadership style and the importance of persuading sports organizations and coaches about the significance of safeguarding were highlighted.
This broad spectrum of research topics underscores the complexity of safeguarding in sports and the necessity of a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach to effectively address these issues. The hashtag#safesport research field is growing in many directions!