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Important SN update for SouthlandChorus grows for end to 'modern day slavery' of Olympic athletes as new IOC boss steps in
Alex Chapman • June 24th, 2025 5:09 pm
A leading athlete advocate is holding out hope that a change at the top of the International Olympic Committee could result in the end of what he describes as “modern slavery”.
With Olympic Day celebrated on Monday, Kirsty Coventry takes over as IOC boss this week, replacing Tomas Bach who has been leading the organisation for the last 12 years.
Rob Koehler is the director general of Global Athlete and has known the former Zimbabwean swimmer for “over 15 years”.
“I absolutely know her and I think we are going to prepare something and send it to her and hopefully enter into some type of dialogue to see if she's willing to start thinking differently.” Koehler told Sport Nation Mornings.
Differently being from how Bach engaged with the likes of Koehler,
Koehler hopes that primary difference relates to Bach's policies on athlete finances at the Olympics.
He believes, given what the athletes bring to the table, they’re being exploited financially.
“It's really mind-boggling and we term it as modern-day slavery when you have the number one stakeholder that fills the seats, that encourages broadcasters to pay big money to broadcast the Olympics, but yet the athletes receive zero compensation for their skills, what they bring to the table and the entertainment value they bring the games.
"That simply can't continue.”
Research has shown that of the approximate US$1.5 billion (NZ$2.4b) brought in by the IOC per Games, only 0.5 percent goes back to the athletes, either through their national Olympic committees or through Olympic solidarity.
It’s a concept Koehler labels “simply not acceptable.”
The current model sees athletes financed by a combination of national sporting organisations (often through taxpayer funding), sponsorship and self-funding.
However they don’t receive any payment for participation at the Olympics, or for winning.
Olympic athletes deserve better from IOC | Sport Nation Mornings
World Athletics became the first governing body to offer prize money to Olympic champions, when gold medallists received NZ$ 85,000 at Paris.
“We didn't think that was enough.” Koehler asserted. “We think every athlete should be compensated, but that mindset and thinking that they are the value to the Games and when they produce and when they compete, they should be compensated and treated extremely well, as they are the No. 1 stars.”
Koehler believes collective bargaining is the answer, a solution successfully implemented in other sporting leagues around the globe.
Koehler believes collective bargaining is the answer, a solution successfully implemented in other sporting leagues around the globe.
“It has really resulted in a safer sport. It's resulted in more revenue for the sport and the athletes and it brings the athletes as a 50-50 partner to grow the sport.
"The other thing it builds and brings, which is clearly lacking in the Olympic movement, is transparency. Where money is being spent, how it's being spent and why decisions are being made.
"It's time to move to the future and really embrace athletes as 50-50 partners, allow them to have independent representation and that comes along with compensation.”
One of the most high-profile examples of such an arrangement can be seen in American college sports with NIL [name, image and likeness].
In college, student-athletes had been prohibited from making deals to profit from their fame, meaning they had to forfeit their NIL rights when they signed with schools.
However in 2021, the NCAA changed the rules to allow them to.
Essentially, the IOC can use athletes NIL to promote or celebrate the Games, but they receive nothing in return.
“What we saw in the United States with the NCAA, the legal challenges, I don't think that's too far away. I think there will be a time where the IOC will be challenged on anti-competition laws to challenge their current model and to allow athletes to turn their potential.” Koehler forecasted.
But it’s not just finances that has the likes of Koehler shouting from the rooftops. He believes that athlete welfare and basic human rights are being jeopardised as well, using the example of the IOC indicating that women couldn't bring their babies who they were breastfeeding to the Tokyo Olympics.
“And they said they simply helped them ship milk to Tokyo, which wasn't acceptable.
“Global Athlete worked with 10 leading breastfeeding or women-led breastfeeding organisations, and we were prepared to put out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling out the lack of rights that they're offering athletes and especially women that wanted to bring their babies.
"We understand that letter got leaked to the IOC and 12 hours later, they reversed the decision to allow women to bring their babies, so it's that whole idea of the welfare of athletes. It's the game.
"It’s not always about money, but it's about transparency, it's about well-being and being respected and treated.”
Another example Koehler used was the IOC refusing to put air conditioning in the Athletes Village at last year’s Paris Olympics.
“Yet every IOC member sitting in their five-star hotel didn't sacrifice air conditioning for the environment. So, the balance isn't there and I think the balance needs to find its way forward and make the athletes equal.
“The majority of athletes can barely pay rent. There's that facade that people turn on the TV every two years for either the winter or the summer Olympics and they think these athletes are rich, they have star power.
"But the reality is the majority can barely get by. They leave sport broken, both broken in terms of their physical and mental health and their financial health.
Global Athlete and other groups will “continue to push” and “continue to advocate”, Koehler added, and a discussion with LA ‘28 organisation boss, Casey Wasserman, has provided some encouragement on that front.
“I think it was four years ago or five years ago in Colorado Springs, I asked a question directly to him about what is he going to differently in terms of changing what athletes receive from the Olympics.
"At that time, he said directly to me - and to the people that were in the room - that he wanted to unlock the earning potential for athletes.”
With Coventry now officially taking over as President, Koehler continues to hold out hope for change but knows that “change in the Olympic movement has never been a strong suit.”
“It's quite funny because Thomas Bach, the former president, used to coin a phrase, 'change or be changed'.
"I throw that back to them as 'change or be change', because athletes are not going away, and athlete activism and advocacy is not going to go away.”
Listen to the full interview:
