World Taekwondo Global Integrity Unit

Back to WT GIU (About Us)

FAIR SPORT

Fair Sport is about the prevention of the manipulation of competitions and match fixing, and the related conduct of Sports Betting by participants.

Betting on competitions, manipulating an event, corrupt conduct, disclosing of inside information, failing to report, and failing to cooperate are all violations of the of the WT’s Code on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions.

In accordance with the WT Code on the Prevention of Manipulation of Competitions:

Competition manipulation occurs when a participant in a sports competition (for example an athlete, a coach, a judge or referee, etc.) knowingly underperforms or deliberately makes bad or wrong decisions affecting the result or course of a competition, in order to obtain an undue benefit (usually a sporting or financial benefit).

Match fixing is when the result of a tournament or competition is partially or completely decided in advance and the match is played to ensure the pre-determined outcome. This is against the rules of the game and often the law. The most common reason for match-fixing is to obtain a payoff from gamblers, but teams may also intentionally perform poorly to gain a future advantage, such as a better draft pick or, on paper, a less eminent opponent in a play-off.

Sports Betting by participants is considered a risk to fair competition. It can lead to a conflict of interest, as athletes, their entourage members or sports officials could take advantage of their inside knowledge of the competition. Similarly, athletes who bet on their sport might be tempted to fully or partly manipulate their competition in order to achieve financial gain.
Athletes may also be pressured into not doing their best by entourage members, who might have directly or indirectly bet on the competition and thus be looking for a specific result. Of even more concern is that athletes or their entourage could become targets for criminals looking for a way to launder money.

For more information about PMC, visit the IOC page.

To understand this area better, take WT’s Free PMC Certification Course.

And for more information, see: WT Rules and list of Sanctioned Athletes and Officials