Defining the olympic legal framework and the IOC’s lawmaking capability: lex Olympica, Olympic law and their relationships with lex sportiva and sports law

James, Mark ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6256-611X and Osborn, Guy (2025) Defining the olympic legal framework and the IOC’s lawmaking capability: lex Olympica, Olympic law and their relationships with lex sportiva and sports law. The International Sports Law Journal, 25. pp. 130-140. ISSN 1567-7559

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Abstract

The Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the legal framework that regulates them, have long been the subject of multidisciplinary scrutiny. Despite significant academic critique, the operations of the Olympic Movement, particularly in relation to the IOC’s governance and its interactions with athletes, have been relatively underexplored by legal scholars. The study of lex Olympica and Olympic law is evolving, with a growing emphasis on its application and limitations. Early legal analyses assumed that the Olympic Charter was largely immune to conventional legal challenges, with courts often hesitant to interfere with the IOC’s decisions. However, recent rulings from the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Bundeskartellamt (the German Competition Authority), indicate that the legality of specific provisions of the Olympic Charter can be challenged under both international sporting-legal frameworks and before national courts and tribunals. This article begins by defining what is understood as the Olympic legal framework, lex Olympica and Olympic law, distinguishing them from their more generally applicable equivalents, lex sportiva and sports law. It then traces the process by which lex Olympica is created by focusing on the IOC's incorporation of its human rights obligations into the Olympic Charter and related secondary and subsidiary documents. The article concludes by proposing ways that the IOC may be able to navigate more effectively these complex legal processes.