International Olympic Committee

Abstract

Abstract The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the governing body of a global and multifaceted complex of individuals, events, institutions, and organizations, oftentimes, if somewhat ambiguously, referred to as the “Olympic Movement,” whose most globally visible manifestations are the Olympic Summer and Winter Games. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the global reach of the Olympic Movement is such that more nations are presently members of the IOC (205) than the United Nations (UN) (192). The IOC's primary function is to establish and advance the principles of the Olympic Charter, and its attendant ideology of Olympism, which provide the values and rules for the governance of the Olympic Movement and the organization of the Olympic Games. Clearly, the IOC's global influence is as much material as ideological, since its sphere of influence includes: 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs); International Federations (IFs) for the 26 Summer and 7 Winter Olympic sports; Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs); as well as national associations, clubs, and individuals belonging to the IFs and NOCs including athletes, administrators, judges, referees, coaches, and officials. Clearly, the IOC is inextricably conjoined with sport at all levels, and across all reaches of the globe. Furthermore, in legal terms, the Swiss government has recognized the IOC as having “the specific character of an international institution,” while granting the Committee an exemption from direct taxation of its revenues and imposing no limitations on the nationality of its administrative staff.