IOC and INTERPOL host national Integrity Training in Buenos Aires
Preparing Buenos Aires for the Youth Olympic Games in 2018 and protecting the integrity of sport throughout Argentina was the focus of a National Integrity in Sport Workshop held jointly by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and INTERPOL in Buenos Aires on 20 October 2016.
The workshop gathered together representatives from the Argentinian police forces, the government, betting entities and sports organisations, and aimed at assisting these key stakeholders in addressing the criminal challenge posed by competition manipulation and other threats to the integrity of sport.
“On the one hand, it is about enabling a coordinated national approach in Argentina and, on the other, laying the foundations for the international cooperation required in this field,” said IOC Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, Pâquerette Girard Zappelli. “This workshop was an important starting point for the close collaboration of all key stakeholders in Argentina, the IOC and INTERPOL, which will be essential in the run-up to the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Buenos Aires in October 2018.”
"Match-fixing is being used by criminals to make and launder money. More than ever, we as a policing community need to stay ahead of them and improve cooperation at the national and international level,” said Commissioner Claudio Rodriguez Mendoza from the INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Buenos Aires.
Train the Trainer Workshop
Following the National Workshop, a Train the Trainer Workshop was organised on 21 October for representatives from more than 20 Argentinian National Sports Federations, empowering them to deliver integrity training to athletes, referees, officials and coaches. In this training session, participants learned to recognise, resist and report threats to the integrity of sport as well as to identify the key actions required to more effectively protect sport, including the roles and responsibilities of coaches and educators.
Handbook available for free
The IOC and INTERPOL “Handbook on Protecting Sport from Competition Manipulation” available here was used as a reference document for both workshops. It serves as a useful guide to understand the dynamics of competition manipulation and how to put in place national measures to prevent match-fixing and other corruption.
Cooperation between the IOC and INTERPOL
The IOC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with INTERPOL in January 2014. Since then, the two organisations have widened the scope of joint activities, including close collaboration during the recent Olympic Games Rio 2016 and capacity-building around the world through a joint Global Integrity in Sport Capacity Building Programme.
Olympic Agenda 2020, the strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, has reiterated the IOC’s commitment and drive to protect clean athletes and the integrity of sport. A number of other measures have thus been initiated and implemented, including robust educational awareness programmes at the Youth Olympic Games and Olympic Games to protect events from any kind of manipulation.
Learn more about the various IOC integrity initiatives here.