1-IV. Sport Integrity (Sport Policy)

1. Trends in Promoting Sport Integrity

In 2011, Jacques Rogge, then president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), raised concerns about the potential threat to sports from pressure caused by illegal sports betting and other misconduct, stating that “Sport is in danger.” On March 1 of the same year, Ronald Nobel, then the secretary-general of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), warned at a meeting at IOC headquarters that “the pressures that threaten sport integrity are growing, and they are coming from all corners of the world in a variety of ways.”

Against this backdrop, a public symposium on sport integrity as the main theme, organized by the Japan Sport Council (JSC), was held in Tokyo for the first time in Japan in 2014. At the symposium, the critical state of sports was pointed out regarding the fact that in the international community surrounding today’s sports world, a number of threats that shake the integrity of sports at its core could be noted. In FY2014, the JSC established a Sport Integrity Unit to protect and enhance sport integrity against a variety of threats to sports, including match-fixing, illegal gambling, lack of governance, violence and doping, through taking measures to protect sport integrity.

It is estimated that it was around 2010 that the emergence and spread of the use of the term integrity in public sports organizations in Japan and abroad became prominent. It has also been pointed out that this was because in addition to doping, there were ethical and social issues that threatened a wide range of values in sports, such as issues including matchfixing and illegal gambling, violence, harassment and lack of governance and compliance.

2.  Understanding Sport Integrity and Related Initiatives  Domestic Trends

The following concepts and policy goals are set out in the Second Sport Basic Plan in which the term sport integrity was published for the first time. First of all, to understand what sport integrity refers to, while it is not necessarily given a clear definition, the word integrity means having honesty, prudence and virtue, and sport integrity is a concept that has been considered important around the globe. It is recognized as a state of being free from such injustices as doping, match-fixing, illegal gambling, violence, harassment, discrimination and lack of group governance, and is achieved as a result of people involved in sports acting honestly based on their strong moral principles.

As for specific policies, following the establishment of a policy target of “aiming to further enhance the value of sports by enhancing the integrity of sports in Japan and promoting clean and fair sports in an integrated manner toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games,” specific measures were set as below.

• The government shall, in cooperation with the JSC, JOC, Japan Sport Association (JSPO) and Japanese Para Sports Association (JPSA), develop evaluation indicators for the management of sports organizations, develop the necessary systems to continuously monitor and evaluate sports organizations, provide necessary advice to organizations that need support and take other steps to integrally address sport integrity.
• The government shall, in cooperation with sports organizations, work to vitalize the initiatives of sports organizations through providing information on excellent sport integrity initiatives.
• The government shall promote highly transparent and sound management of sports organizations in compliance with relevant laws and regulations through developing response procedures, etc. in the event of inappropriate incidents occurring in sports organizations and supporting the reinforcement of human resources and financial resources, which are the foundation of organizational management.
• In light of the concerted efforts of professional sports organizations to promote sport integrity, the government shall provide information and necessary advice, including compliance seminars.

Furthermore, in the Third Sport Basic Plan, “Ensuring sport integrity” was specified among the 12 measures to be taken comprehensively and systematically over the next five years in Japan. The Third Plan states that “(Sport integrity) is the state of integrity in which sports are free from a variety of threats. Examples of threats include doping, match-fixing, gambling, illegal drugs, violence, harassment of various kinds, racial discrimination and lack of governance in sports organizations.”  

Under the policy goal of “improving the percentage of people who play sports and building a society in which each and every person can enjoy the value of sports in their daily lives,” specific measures have been set out for strengthening the governance and ensuring compliance of sports organizations, developing a dispute resolution system, promoting anti-doping activities, eradicating violence and abuse in sports coaching, and taking steps to prevent problems such as slander and discrimination on social media.