Navigating National Safe Sport Entities: Advances and Challenges

Exploring Safe Sport Initiatives in Australia, Germany and more

Over the last few years, an increase in the establishment of national and sport-specific ‘safe sport entities’ – organizations tasked with addressing harassment and abuse in sport – has emerged in response to the growing number of publicly reported cases of violence in sport. Despite the prevalent culture of silence, the courage of athlete victims and survivors to publicly disclose their experiences has been pivotal in driving these initiatives.

For example, one of the most well-known cases of systemic abuse, in U.S. Gymnastics, directly led to the creation of the U.S. Center for Safe Sport, a governmental entity responsible for overseeing more than 11 million stakeholders within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movement. Similarly, Germany and the United Kingdom are in the process of the establishing their own national safe sport bodies.

Other countries, however, like Australia and Luxembourg or sports like Biathlon have taken different approaches, whether through integrating harassment and abuse cases into existing integrity bodies or replicating responses similar to anti-doping to address the issue.

Across survivors and allies, there has been a consistent call for safe sport mechanisms that acknowledge the complexity and sensitivity of abuse, recognize the impacts of trauma, and are genuinely fit for purpose. Nevertheless, many initiatives have struggled to meet these needs for various reasons, including limited engagement of impacted people, unclear mandates, governance challenges, shortcomings in investigative processes, as well as financial constraints.

This workshop, hosted by the SRA Athletes Network for Safer Sports, will examine safe sport frameworks in Australia, Germany, and other national and sport-specific contexts, discuss recent advances, and identify the specific challenges advocates continue to face when pushing for new mechanisms or reforming existing ones.

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Wednesday, 23 March 2025
Time: 09:00 Zurich // 13:30 Kolkata // 19:00 Sydney

Format: 1h30 online session.

Registration: Click here.

Panelists: