The wider issue at stake

This is not just a story about a Nepali athlete who has been cheated by his National sports authorities and the Olympic system. The story of Shyam Dhakal and the Nepal Ski Team, although fascinating and important, is really a lens through which a much wider and even more important issue is at stake.

This website is drawing attention to a serious problem that has transformed all major sport over the past few decades into little more than a show case for huge commercial interests such as Addidas, Dynastar and Rolex.

And most of the workers in this massive business enterprise, that is providing billions in profits for wealthy sports officials and their associated companies, are entirely unpaid amateurs who are duped into believing that the world of sport has a rational authority which acts honourably and fairly towards all athletes. Consequently millions of young people all over the world spend their time, energy and funding (often provided by unwitting parents, friends or sponsors) pursuing a noble dream characterised by the Olympic movement. Some of them even literally give their lives for it as many sports (like Alpine skiing) are actually quite dangerous.

But the sad reality is that the Olympic dream, for which so many sacrifices are constantly made, has been infested by the indifference, arrogance and ruthless greed of many of those administering the movement. Powerful officials in National Olympic Committees, who in turn elect the International Olympic leadership, are supposedly elected by their national sporting associations. But these associations are often dominated by business elites whose ready cash and local influence is rewarded with official positions that bring much larger rewards. There is nothing democratic about the system at all.

The Nepal Ski Association for example does not have a single skier amongst its ranks. And no FIS registered skier has ever been invited to elect any of its officials. In fact most of the officials have never even seen a ski let alone used one. And yet these people receive hundreds of thousands every year which is mostly spent on their families, friends and personal pockets. Certainly no member of the Alpine ski team has ever received a single dollar of FIS funding during the entire 10 year programme.

The corruption comes about because the benefits for these businessmen are considerable. The advertising, media and logo rights of every sport earn vast sums each year. This is distributed largely in unaccounted cash to the various national associations whose officials often have unencumbered access to it. And, although governments may have the right to monitor and regulate this funding, the sheer scale of it allows the encouragement of many government inspectors to overlook any malpractice.

And the real prizes lie in the Olympic system. Not only are the sums involved truly stupendous, but no government has any right to interfere with any National Olympic Committee. They are effectively above the law in an archaic system that was designed when trusted aristocrats administered a system that had little funding associated with it. Hence the national committees are supposedly regulated by the International Olympic Committee but, since that body is elected by or comprised of officials drawn from the now commerce dominated national committees/associations, the modern system is obviously wide open to abuse. Literally billions of dollars are involved and the profiteering is nothing short of obscene.

When the Nepali government attempted to remove the Nepal Olympic Committee President, Rukma Shumsha Rana, in the wake of considerable evidence of malpractice and abuse of funding, the International Olympic Committee sprung to his defence and declared the government move as illegal. Years of dispute followed in which the country had two rival Olympic Committees. Indeed the saga was only resolved when Rana was eventually given the even more lucrative post of Ambassador to India if he were to withdraw from the Olympic field.

Now all this wouldn’t be so bad if the system actually performed the task it was designed to achieve. But it doesn’t. The leading nations maintain their domination in sport, and thereby their prestige, not through innate excellence but simply because little of the funding designed to assist smaller and poorer nations ever reaches the athletes or the even the sport itself. And the larger nations turn a blind eye to this naked corruption because it helps their athletes keep on top.

Even the media is not truly free from this Mafioso organisation that grips the world of sport. Every sports journalist seeks accreditation to the VIP areas of each event as without it their reportage is second rate. Of course such accreditation is in the power of the sports officials to give or deny. Consequently no ambitious sports journalist is really able to expose or even criticise the system for otherwise they would find themselves reporting events from the public stands where very few stars can be found.

And all those participating in sport are equally bound by the system as well. Athletes or trainers who dare to challenge the authority of the system or even criticise it are immediately sacked from their positions or simply ignored from selection lists. National Olympic Committees are not obliged to select the best athletes for the Games but simply those they prefer. As one very eminent former member of the IOC (who naturally insists on anonymity for the moment) explained to me, the entire system is perfect. It is like a diamond crystal. Nothing can challenge it or prevent the huge corruption that infests it. It is a modern day ‘Leviathan’ as he put it.

Of course all of us who have contributed to this site and have drawn your attention to these malpractices can have no further future in sport. The system will permanently ostracise us and we shall never be recognised as athletes or trainers again. That much we understand. But we hope that sometime in this 21st. century the wonderful vision of Baron Coubertin and the true Olympic spirit of sportsmanship above commerce will again be upheld and that proper regulations and protection of athletes and trainers against corruption and abuse by their officials will be achieved.

That is the fundamental purpose behind this website and all that is written in it.

Richard Morley
Nepal Ski Team Manager and Alpine Trainer 1998-2009
1 February 2010.