2025: End of Year Message
As we close 2025, our FairSport and Global Athlete team want to extend our gratitude to all of the athletes, advocates and allies who have driven our athletes’ first movement forward.
This year proved, once again, that independent athlete advocacy is not only necessary but profoundly impactful. Together, we advanced athlete rights, amplified athlete voices and supported athletes around the world.
We also marked our fifth year of a Global Athlete and FairSport partnership. Together, we produced a body of work that detailed our wins and our challenges over the last five years, as well as the road ahead as we continue to work with athletes to create a sporting world where they are at the centre. Our book demonstrates the undeniable impact of independent athlete advocacy in driving change across the Olympic Movement.
Five Years of a Global Athlete and FairSport Partnership
Our Global Impact in 2025
International Athlete Cooperation
A defining marker of 2025 has been our growing global reach. Over the past year, we have helped athletes from Romania, the United Kingdom, Canada, Sri Lanka, Uganda, the United States of America, the Ivory Coast, the Netherlands, Sweden, Kenya, Germany, Venezuela, Iran, and Poland. We have stood side by side with these athletes to seek institutional justice.
This year also brought profound sadness. Our colleague and fierce advocate Anatol Kotau disappeared under mysterious circumstances while travelling to Turkey. Anatol, a former senior Belarusian sport official and outspoken critic of government abuses, worked closely with Global Athlete, the Belarus Sport Solidarity Foundation and Ukrainian athletes to prevent Russian and Belarusian athletes with military ties from competing at the Olympic Games. His inner circles fear he was abducted by the Belarusian KGB or Russia’s FSB. To date, the International Olympic Committee has remained silent on his disappearance. We will continue to press for accountability and answers.
Driving National and Global Reform
Canadian Sport Reform
This year, we took an additional step in shaping sport reform in Canada. We provided a formal submission to the Future of Sport in Canada Commission outlining a bold vision to radically reconstruct the Canadian sports system. Developed through deep consultation with Olympic, Paralympic and national team athletes as well as sport administrators, coaches and individuals with lived experiences. We conducted extensive interviews to understand how Canadian sport must be redesigned to truly serve athletes from grassroots to the Olympic level. At the same time, our focus was to strengthen governance, safety, transparency and accountability.
“Two vital components of the proposed strategic vision are trust and athletes. Oversight, transparency, and accountability must be cornerstones of the future to rebuild trust among Canadians who participate in, run, and watch sports. Likewise, equal partnership with athletes from the planning stage to implementation is non-negotiable – without it, any pathway forward will fail to adequately serve the future of sport Canada.” - Global Athlete submission to the Future of Sport in Canada Commission
Anti-Doping
Our advocacy for athlete justice continued globally. Through the testimony of whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, more than 260 Russian athletes have now been sanctioned for their involvement in Russia’s state-sponsored doping program, resulting in long-overdue medal reallocations to deserving clean athletes.
We also worked closely with athletes demanding wholesale reform at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) following its refusal to uphold the rules of the World Anti-Doping Code. WADA’s failure to properly investigate the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive allowed them to circumvent established rules and compete internationally both at the 2021 Tokyo and the 2024 Paris Olympics. As a result, 81 athletes from (Europe 27*, USA 18*, Canada 25*, Australia 25* and Japan 1*) lost a potential 96 medals they rightfully earned. This miscarriage of justice underscores the urgent need for an independent athlete-centred overhaul of global anti-doping governance.
* number of medal potential lostOlympic Movement
This year, we also engaged with sport leadership through a letter sent to the newly appointed IOC President, Kirsty Conventy. We congratulated her on her historic appointment and urged her to deliver on her commitment to athlete rights and systemic reform. We emphasized the need to:
Ensure fair compensation for Olympic athletes
Embrace collective bargaining as the pathway to a true 50/50 partnership.
Modernize commercial freedoms and NIL rights by reforming outdated restrictions like Rule 40.
Protect freedom of expression by abolishing punitive rules like Rule 50.
Establish authentic, independent athlete representation.
Lead a transparent overhaul of the global anti-doping governance to restore athlete trust.
International Fencing Federation
In July, we partnered with over 440 international fencers who penned an open letter to the International Fencing Federation (FIE) to express deep concern and disagreement with the FIE’s decision to stop conducting independent, thorough checks on Russian and Belarusian athletes applying for Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) status, instead accepting only a signed declaration of peace and neutrality.
“We, the undersigned athletes, do not agree with the FIE’s recent decisions on eligibility criteria for Russian and Belarusian athletes. We were neither consulted nor involved in these decisions and thus feel compelled to publicly state our position. As athletes, we are not mere participants—we are the sport, and we share responsibility for upholding its values.” - 440 International Fencers
Paralympic Sponsors
Throughout October, we leveraged our social media platforms to drive a campaign focused on the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) sponsors and the ongoing aggression of Russia in Ukraine. The campaign spotlighted the contradictions of the Paralympic corporate sponsors that were continuing to support the IPC despite its lifting of the ban on Russia and Belarus. During the campaign, many Paralympic Winter International Federations chose to uphold their bans on Russian and Belarusian athletes, meaning the two countries would remain excluded and unable to qualify for the upcoming Winter Paralympic Games. While our campaign may or may not have had a direct impact on these decisions, it highlighted the importance and power of defending the rights of athletes, especially under oppressive or morally fraught political contexts.
@abinbev you promised to leave Russia. But sponsoring the International Paralympic Committee that readmits Russia & Belarus is still filling Putin’s glass.
@paralympics
#standwithukraine💙💛
Looking ahead to 2026
As we move forward, athletes deserve not only a platform but meaningful and legal power in the system. This will only be possible if collective bargaining rights for Olympic and international athletes are embedded in the Olympic Movement. Collective bargaining rights must address the following key issues.
Fair revenue sharing must replace systems where athletes generate value but receive a fraction of it.
Real representation must replace symbolic consultation.
Safety and welfare protections must be enforceable, not optional.
Modern employment standards must replace Olympic exceptionalism as every major professional sport already operates under negotiated agreements.
To every athlete reading this, your courage, determination and solidarity power this movement. You are the future of sport, and both FairSport and Global Athlete are committed to assisting and partnering with you to enhance your rights.
Your Contribution Matters - Make A Donation
We hope you will join us on this journey with a donation. We rely on private contributions to fund our operations. Our independence is critical to our mission, and there is no feasible alternative funding model for our work. We thank you for your support and belief in a sporting future where human rights are reflected in athletes’ rights.
On behalf of the entire team at FairSport and Global Athlete, allow us to also wish you a happy and prosperous New Year.
Jim Swartz and Johann Koss
Co-Founders, FairSport
Rob Koehler
Director General, Global Athlete
FairSport is an independent foundation dedicated to eradicating cheating in sport. We support confidential sources who speak up to unmask doping, and we educate the global public on the value of honesty and integrity in sport.
Global Athlete is an international athlete-led movement guiding positive change in world sport to collectively address the balance of power between athletes and administrators. We aim to help athletes gain a more representative voice in world sport, recognising that the neglect and suppression of the athlete voice has gone on for too long.