Bidding for Glory: The Flawed Bidding Process for the Olympic Games

The Olympic Games originated in Greece nearly 3,000 years ago. Since the first modern Olympics in 1896, the Games have undergone massive changes and become a spotlight for international success in athletics. Beginning in 1994, the Winter Games and Summer Games were held separately. While the decision to separate the Games marked a significant milestone and signaled the wide expanse of events athletes could participate in, the separation also opened the opportunity for greater corruption in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and nations seeking the glory of hosting the Games. This paper explores corruption in the IOC and the Olympic bidding process for hosting the Olympic Games and touches on the anti-corruption efforts made in the last several years as well as the benchmark case of U.S. v. Welch. The paper then makes a modest proposal to amend the bidding process via an Olympic charter amendment that would require candidate countries to enact legislation to create a cause of action against bad actors in the bidding process.