Something’s Gotta Give: Bent Rules, Breached Bottom Line, and the International Amateur Athletics Federations’ Handling of the “China Question”

Abstract

International Sport Federations, as part of the Olympic network, have different organizational structures and decision-making mechanisms from the International Olympic Committee. 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 organizational politics and power dynamics in face of governmental interference. Primarily examining archival documents obtained from the IAAF Archive and the International Olympic Committee 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 from the 1950s to the 1970s and around its eventual admission of the People’s Republic of China’s Athletics Association in 1978. It is also argued that the IAAF’s engagement and inclusion of the People’s Republic of China allowed the consolidation of its monopolizing power in global athletics governance.