Syracuse media library

Elite athletes devote thousands of hours to the quest for excellence in their sport – the goal being to perform and compete at the highest level possible. All aspects of health and safety are of the highest importance and need to be considered. For its part, the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s mission includes placing athletes at the heart of the Olympic Movement, in line with the roadmap established by Olympic Agenda 2020. Recommendation 18 of this is: “Strengthen support to athletes.” All athletes must be able to practise safe sport, in an environment that is respectful, fair and free from any form of non-accidental violence.

The IOC has therefore taken important measures to protect athletes against harassment and abuse in sport by means of projects put in place by its Athletes’, Athletes’ Entourage, Medical and Scientific, and Women in Sport commissions, in collaboration with the NOCs, IFs and experts.

The  IOC toolkit for IFs and NOCs has been developed to help IFs and NOCs design their own policies and procedures aimed at safeguarding athletes from harassment and abuse in sport.

In order to facilitate research on this important topic, we propose to you here a selection of official resources including those produced by the International Olympic Committee through its Medical and Scientific Commission. It includes the Olympic Movement Medical Code and the IOC collection of sports medicine publications, as well as the World Anti-Doping Code.

Don’t miss the International Olympic Committee consensus statements, which can all be found here. We highlight in particular the ones on mental health of elite athletes (2019) and on harassment and abuse (non-accidental violence) in sport (2016), published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. This declaration followed the one in 2007 on sexual harassment and abuse in sport by including other kinds of abuse: psychological, physical and negligence.

Of course, the selection on this page is limited. Use the search bar to access the full catalogue and the useful links section to find more resources on athletes’ health available to you.