ABSTRACT
The year 2011 was a banner one for corruption within major sports events at the international level. The chairman of the 2010 CWG, Suresh Kalmadi, was arrested following allegations of corruption around the event (Cutler, 2011i). He subsequently served a nine-month sentence for having supposedly inflated “tenders worth millions of dollars for equipment used” at the Games (Cutler, 2012c: 1). A state auditor noted in 2011 that the Games were “deeply flawed, riddled with favouritism and bias” (as quoted by Cutler, 2012c: 1). In turn, Orlando Silva, the Brazilian sports minister resigned following corruption allegations for his involvement in both the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games (Cutler, 2011h). In addition, the International Boxing Association began investigating allegations of large pay-outs in return for guarantees that Azerbaijan boxers would be awarded gold medals during the 2012 London Olympic Games (Cutler, 2011g). These are but three examples of the level of corruption found within major sports events.
