Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-9-2023

Publication Title

Sport History Review

Volume

54

Abstract

International Sport Federations (IFs), as part of the Olympic network, have different organisational structures and decision-making mechanisms from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The authors, in examining the history of the International Amateur Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) handling of the “China question” in international sport, probe how these differences translated into the IAAF’s organisational politics and power dynamics in face of governmental interference. Primarily examining archival documents obtained from the IAAF Archive and the IOC Historical Archives, the authors particularly follow how the self-governing IAAF upheld, bent, and modified its statutes during its engagement with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from the 1950s to the 1970s and around its eventual admission of the PRC’s Athletics Association in 1978. It is also argued that the IAAF’s engagement and inclusion of the PRC allowed the consolidation of its monopolising power in global athletics governance.

Issue

1

First Page

129

Last Page

148

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1123/shr.2022-0033

ISSN

1087-1659

Comments

Accepted author manuscript version reprinted, by permission, from Sport History Review, 2023, 54(1): 129-148, https://doi.org/10.1123/shr.2022-0033. © Human Kinetics, Inc.

Rights

© Human Kinetics, Inc.

Primo Type

Article

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