The unrepresentative and discriminatory governance structure of cycling.

• Author: Freeburn, Lloyd
• Position: What Role for the International Olympic Committee?

1. Introduction

   The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is the international sporting federation (IF) recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the sport of cycling. (1) The UCI governs world cycling and will administer the four forms of cycling that will feature in the 2012 London Olympics - track, road, mountain bike and BMX. (2) It is contended that in doing so, the UCI will be operating under a structure that is flawed in being both unrepresentative and discriminatory in that it favours its European members to the prejudice of all other members of the organisation. These arrangements lack any objective justification and are in conflict with anti-discrimination provisions in the UCI's Constitution (3) and Rules of good governance. (4) The UCI's organisational structure is also unlike the arrangements made by any of the other IFs involved in the 2012 London Olympic Games or those of other major world sports. Significantly, it is also in conflict with the provisions of the Olympic Charter. (5)

   This article examines the UCI's organisational arrangements beginning with a description of the anti-discrimination provisions that apply. It then examines the justifications for those arrangements, compares the arrangements of the UCI with those of other IFs and explores possible avenues for challenges to the provisions of the UCI Constitution that are argued to be discriminatory. Finally, it is suggested that the IOC has a significant role to play in addressing the situation in cycling as part of its role in securing compliance with the Olympic Charter.

2. ANTI-DISCRIMINATION REQUIREMENTS

   2.1 Olympic Charter

   The Olympic Charter sets out the Fundamental Principles of Olympism. (6) In addition to codifying the Fundamental Principles, the Olympic Charter also establishes the other rules that together are to 'govern the organisation, action and operation of the Olympic Movement'. (7) As one of the three main constituents of the Olympic Movement, International Sports Federations (IFs) (8) such as the UCI are required to comply with the Olympic Charter and with decisions of the IOC. (9)

   One of the Fundamental Principles of Olympism is that 'Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.' (10)

   Another of the Fundamental Principles of Olympism provides a level of autonomy to IF:

   'Recognising that sport occurs within the framework of society, sports organisations within the Olympic Movement shall have the rights and obligations of autonomy, which include freely establishing and controlling the rules of sport, determining the structure and governance of their organisations, enjoying the right of elections free from any outside influence and the responsibility for ensuring that principles of good governance be applied.' (11) This autonomy for the constituents of the Olympic Movement in determining their structure and governance is limited. It is confined by the requirement of the Charter for 'the statutes, practice and activities of the IFs within the Olympic Movement [to] be in conformity with the Olympic Charter'. (12) When read together, the Olympic Charter allows the UCI, as an IF recognised by the IOC, the freedom to determine its own structure and constitutional arrangements. It must however ensure that its structure and Constitution are not discriminatory.

   2.2 The Uci Constitution

   Similar to the requirements of Principle 6 of the Fundamental Principles of Olympism, Article 3 of the UCI Constitution requires the UCI to carry out its activities in compliance with the principle of 'equality between all the members ... without racial, political, religious, or other discrimination'. (13) The UCI also claims to elect 'its bodies with the strictest respect for the principle of democracy, enabling equal representation of all those involved in the cycling world'. (14) As will be seen, this claim is not reflected in the organisation's arrangements.

3. Organisational Arrangements of the UCI

   3.1 Structure Of UCI

   In common with other major IFs, (15) the UCI Constitution establishes a tiered structure for the administration and governance of the organisation. The members of the UCI are the national cycling federations from each country admitted as members. (16) One federation per country may be admitted (17) with the UCI comprising approximately 180 members. (18) The highest authority within the UCI is the Congress which is the general meeting of members. (19) Congresses are held annually. (20) Its principal functions are to elect the members of the UCI Management Committee, to receive reports from the Management Committee, to admit and expel Members, and to amend the Constitution. (21)

   An annual meeting is obviously inadequate to manage an international sporting federation. Accordingly, the UCI is actually managed by its Management Committee, 'under the authority of the Congress'. (22) The powers of the Management Committee include organising and executing the decisions of the Congress, making up the budgets of the organisation for submission to Congress, contracting with third parties, engaging staff, establishing regulations for cycling and establishing subcommittees necessary for the functioning of the UCI. (23) There is also a smaller Executive Committee which is responsible for managing the 'routine and/or urgent business of the UCI'. (24)

   The other significant internal bodies of note within the UCI are the five Continental Confederations. Federations from the same continent are grouped together in a Continental Confederation as 'an administrative unit and integral part of the UCI'. (25) The role of Continental Confederations is to 'promote the development of cycling in their respective continents'. (26) While responsible for submitting proposals for cycling activities to the Management Committee, (27) they are not required to meet more than once every four years. (28)

   3.2 The Allocation of Voting Power Within the UCI

   The UCI inaccurately claims that its Congress is 'made up of delegations from National Federations, who vote through their voting delegates'. (29) In fact, the members of the UCI are not provided with voting rights - equal or otherwise.

   It is true that the UCI is an association of NFs. (30) These NFs are legal entities that are separate from the UCI. (31) But unlike the NFs', the UCI's Continental Confederations have no independent existence. They are merely the collection of UCI members located in each relevant geographic area for the administrative purposes of the UCI. (32) The role of the organisation is to represent the NFs, not the Continental Confederations. Yet, none of the members get the right to directly vote on any matter. Voting is allocated to the Continental Confederations instead of each member of the UCI. (33) There are only 42 Congress votes and these votes are allocated to the Continental Confederations as shown in Table 1.

   Table 1 Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 UCI Continental Member UCI Congress 'One vote, one Confederation Federations Votes value' voting entitlement Asian Cycling 41 nations 9 delegates 10 delegates Confederation (34) European Cycling 48 nations 14 delegates 11 delegates Union (35) Oceanian Cycling 4 nations 3 delegates 1 delegate Confederation (36) Pan American 45 nations 9 delegates 10 delegates Cycling (37) Confederation African Cycling 43 nations 7 delegates 10 delegates Confederation (38) Total 181 (39) 42 42 If each member of the UCI is to be regarded as equal, then through a 'one member, one vote/value' approach, the distribution of votes between Continental Confederations would proportionally reflect the number of UCI members within that Confederation. A comparison of the actual number of votes allocated to Confederations (Column 3) with what they should be according to equal voting rights for members (Column 4) shows that the Asian, Pan American and African Confederations all receive less votes that they should on this approach. On the other hand, the European and Oceania Confederations receive more votes than they should.

   Perhaps more significantly, under this arrangement, a member of the UCI is never guaranteed that its view will be reflected in any vote with-in the UCI - unless those views are in line with the votes cast by its Continental Confederation. This is because for the purpose of voting, the voting delegates from the Continental Confederations are the Confederation's delegates, not the delegates of the NF to whom the delegate belongs. For example, the 14 Delegates to the UCI Congress from the European Continental Confederation (UEC) are the delegates of the UEC, not the particular NF that they represent within the UEC. As such, these delegates are required to 'respect the decisions of the UEC General Assembly'. (40) These delegates would therefore be required to vote as directed by the UEC General Assembly regardless of their own views or the views of any other member of the UEC.

   The inequality and disenfranchisement of members established by the method of allocation of voting power to Continental Confederations within the UCI is then compounded by the way in which the Management Committee is selected.

   3.3 The Uci Management Committee

   The principal decisions within cycling are made by the UCI Management Committee. Congress meets only once a year and largely determines membership issues, elects the President and the Management Committee and otherwise receives reports from the Management Committee. (41) It is the Management Committee that makes decisions such as determining race calendars, determining anti-doping regulations, regulating rider agents, allocating the location of world championships, establishing an athletes' commission, appointing the staff of the UCI, and the organisation of the Congress itself. (42) In addition to not providing for voting rights for members at the Congress, the...