Affiliation:
1. University of Ljubljana, Faculty of sport, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
The International Olympic Committee sets the direction for the development of sport, and international sports federations are responsible for incorporating that direction into their rules to maintain their presence at the Olympics. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, 33 international sports federations represented with their sports. We have analyzed the statutes of 33 international sports federations based on the keywords "health", "medicine", "doping" and "injuries". Doping is mentioned in all major documents, health is omitted by 30% of federations, medicine is not mentioned by 21% of federations, and only eight international sports federations mention injuries, representing 24% of federations. From the data on doping and injuries in sports, we can conclude that doping is a minor problem compared to injuries. The main reason for acute and chronic injuries could be related to the technical rules for practicing the sport, not to the constitution. If the number of injuries is to be reduced, the technical rules should be changed first, as the injury statistics per sport show.