The monopoly, the high discretion, the tiny accountability, and the lack of political culture in the sports movement, have created a free zone for corruption in organized sport in Colombia.

A former professional football player is taken under arrest stopped at home with cash in boxes. Another group of managers and players are captured after a police operation. Eleven people are charged with a criminal organization, corruption in sports and money laundering. This scene occurred in Spain during the last week of May and will continue to happen throughout the world if the authorities do not act on time.

The world is a better place to live, there are fewer people in extreme poverty, less discrimination against women, hunger, diseases, illiteracy, and environmental degradation. International sports organizations, even those that are worried about human performance and world records, should ask themselves their role to overcome the problems in the global agenda.

Sport is war minus the shooting, wrote George Orwell in 1941. Some things have changed, others remain similar. Communications, science, medicine, economy and the understanding of human psychology are the evidence of it. The role of the sport in society, however, remains similar or much the same as…

Cases of abuse, dismissal, exploitation and unfair treatment are hidden back the Olympic Glory. Sports managers must think about that and watch towards humanization of elite sport. This is the story of Maria Luisa Calle, Colombian cyclist.

Maria Luisa Calle reached the glory in the 2004 Athens Olympics, when she arrived in 3rd in the Women’s points race, being the first Colombian athlete winning an Olympic medal in cycling. Something unique in the history of sport in Colombia. By that time, she was 36 and this was the most important achievement in her career.

May Kim, a Korean student who attends classes with me at the Seoul National University invited me to participate in a particular competition, to swim across the Han River. I liked the idea and I said yes. What I did not know was that this challenge was part of a bucket list, and its one was being postponed years after years.

I was invited to Taekwondowon in Muju city. This place is known as the most important place for the development of Taekwondo in the world. You can go by bus in three hours from Seoul. Actually, Taekwondowon is more important than Muju because local Koreans say that Muju is lonely, and there is nothing to do there…

When I arrived, there were a group of kids with us enjoining the cultural activities. They live in Taekwondowon. The go to the school and do taekwondo training three times per week. …

The imaginary lines that politicians and culture do, are not between us anymore. We recognize ourselves as members of a global community, not as a citizen from one or other country.

The night before our last class, I had a nightmare; I was in my hometown and I had a meeting but I had forgotten my trip to Seoul so I was taking the bus to the airport without baggage… and I was not attending to my meeting, even not calling to say I couldn’t’ go.

Sorry if you feel this speech is quite formal, but I needed to figure…

“Current democracies have a ‘free zone’ for corruption. One of them is the organized sport”

Juan Villoro

Sport organizations are facing a lack of credibility. Corruption in International Sport has been well documented. Athletes taking illegal substances, match-fixing and bribes have produced a governance crisis and lack of credibility. Part of this problem occurs because of the nature of these organizations. They are non-profit organizations and yet they run huge global businesses. These characteristics, plus a lack of transparency, accountability and excessive commercialization in sport create a potential environment for corruption. …

Everybody has breaking moments in life. One of those moments in Nomi’s life came when she started to play volleyball.

Starting to play at age 8 and becoming the youngest league player in history 14, she realized very soon what her passion was. As happens with many girls involved in sports, she didn’t have her parents’ support. Despite being part of the team that won the national championship three times in Mongolia, she says sadly, “My parents never saw me playing volleyball.”

It came to be that Nomi couldn’t practice volleyball anymore because of an injury in her back. Indeed…