Date of Award

Spring 5-16-2026

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Advisor(s)

Dr. Eric Jarosinski

Second Advisor

Caley Johnson, Ph.D.

Abstract

International sport holds unique power and opportunity to unite the global population around a common entity. Large-scale international sporting events such as the Olympic Games and the World Cup maintain influence and importance across cultures and societies, and offer the world the opportunity to celebrate the tenacity, hard work and willpower of their fellow citizens. At the same time, they also provide the space for all of the world’s nations to engage with one another peacefully and constructively to build relations that extend far beyond the boundaries of a single competition. Therefore, an area of society which holds such clear importance must also be properly regulated and structured in order to ensure fair behavior, equal opportunity and acceptable results for all. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, an independent legal system which aims to centralize the process of sporting disputes, exists to fulfill these demands. While the Court tends to fulfill its basic duties, its frameworks and methods of authority are arguably weak. The weaknesses of the system are clearly exemplified by two recent and highly publicized cases concerning Olympic medal ownership: the doping scandal within the Russian figure skating team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which triggered a medal reallocation, and the dispute over final rankings in the women’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s handling of each of these cases was inadequate and contained multiple stages of appeal due to mishandling of case facts, requiring the involvement of external parties to reach a final decision. The failures of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in both of these cases reveal clear contradictions and structural flaws in the procedural behavior of the Court, and raise significant questions as to whether its system should be reconsidered altogether.

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