History
On 30 May 1983, the 21 International Federations governing the sports included at the time on the programme of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games decided to form the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).
ASOIF was formed, as stated in the first article of its constitution 'to co-ordinate and to defend the common interests of its members' and to 'ensure close co-operation between its members, and members of the Olympic Movement and other organisations'. These needs were identified in order to preserve the unity of the Olympic movement while maintaining 'the authority, independence and autonomy of the member International Federations.'
The members of ASOIF meet once a year in a General Assembly. The General Assembly usually precedes the joint meeting between the executive board of the International Olympic Committee and the International Federations where a multitude of topics are discussed in the common interests of the Olympic Movement.
In 2015, the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 had proposed five new sports in response to the new flexibility provided by Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC's strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement. Olympic Agenda 2020 gives host cities the option of suggesting new sports and events for inclusion in their edition of the Games. Karate, skateboarding, sports climbing, surfing and baseball/softball was added to the Olympic Programme in Tokyo 2020. ASOIF has amended its statutes to enable IFs "governing sports included within the events programme for a specific edition of the Summer Olympic Games" to become "Associate Members".
ASOIF is administered by an executive body, the council, which consists of seven individual members, most of which are presidents of Summer Olympic International Federations.
The ASOIF General Secretariat is located in Lausanne and is administered by the ASOIF Executive Director.
The International Olympic Committee is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The IOC is the authority responsible for organizing the Summer, Winter, and Youth Olympics. The IOC also is the governing body of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and of the worldwide Olympic Movement, the IOC's term for all entities and individuals involved in the Olympic Games. As of 2020, 206 NOCs officially were recognized by the IOC. The IOC president has been Thomas Bach since 2013.
Olympic sports are sports that are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2024 Summer Olympics included 32 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by an international governing body called an International Federation (IF).
The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) is the National Olympic Committee responsible for developing, promoting, and protecting the Olympic Movement in Australia. The AOC has the exclusive responsibility for the representation of Australia at the Olympic Games, the Youth Olympic Games and at Regional Games patronized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). All National Olympic Committees are constituents of the International Olympic Committee.
The International Weightlifting Federation, aka IWF, is the international governing body for the sport of Weightlifting. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, it has 193 affiliated national federations. Mohammed Hasan Jalood is its president since June 2022.
The International World Games Association, abbreviated as IWGA, is an international association, recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that organises every four years, beginning in 1981, the multi-sport event called The World Games.
Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) was the umbrella organisation for all international sports federations as well as organisers of multi-sports games and sport-related international associations. It changed its name to SportAccord from March 2009 to April 2017, when it reverted to its GAISF. It was an international sport organisation with 95 full members and 20 associate members.
The International Boxing Association (IBA), previously known as the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA), is a sports organization that sanctions amateur and professional boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships. It is one of the oldest boxing federations in the world, coming into existence after the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IBA consists of five continental confederations, the African Boxing Confederation, American Boxing Confederation, Asian Boxing Confederation, European Boxing Confederation, and Oceania Boxing Confederation. As of 2021, the IBA included 198 national boxing federations. It organises the biennial IBA World Boxing Championships, and governed boxing at the Summer Olympics until 2020.
Youth Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes aged 15 to 18 years old. Organized by the International Olympic Committee, the Games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with the current Olympic Games format, though in reverse order with the Olympic Winter Games held in leap years instead of the Games of the Olympiad. The first summer version was held in Singapore from 14 to 26 August 2010 while the first winter version was held in Austria from 13 to 22 January 2012.
The Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF) is an association of winter sports federations recognized by the International Olympic Committee that compete in the Olympic Winter Games.
The Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation constituted through and recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The ARISF's members are international sports federations recognised by the IOC whose sport is currently not competed in either the Summer or Winter Olympics, though becoming a member of ARISF does not imply or guarantee that the sport will be included in future Olympic Games.
Netball has never been played at the Summer Olympics, but its federation World Netball has been recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), since 1995 after a twenty-year period of lobbying. The netball community sees netball's absence at the Olympic Games as a hindrance to the global growth of the game, depriving it of media attention and funding. The IOC requires a high geographical scope for inclusion in the Olympics, but netball is mostly played in Commonwealth countries. When the IOC recognized netball's federation, it opened up sources of funds that the global netball community had not been able to access before, including the (IOC), national Olympic committees and sports organisations, and state and federal governments.
The International Federation of Muaythai Associations, or IFMA, called the International Federation of Muaythai Amateur until 27 July 2019, is a sport governing body of amateur and professional Muay Thai and Muay boran consisting of 140 member countries worldwide with 5 continental federations after unification of International Federation of Muaythai Amateur and World Muaythai Council. IFMA is officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF), the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) International World Games Association (IWGA), and Trim and Fitness International Sport for All Association (TAFISA). Muaythai has been included in many official sport programs such as the World Games, World Combat Games, Arafura Games, TAFISA Games, SEA Games, Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, Asian Beach Games, Demonstration Sport in the Asian Games.
The International Cheer Union (ICU) is the worldwide sports governing body of cheerleading and was founded in 2004. It is recognized by SportAccord / Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), and is a member of the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF). Its membership includes 116 national cheer federations on all continents - reaching over 5 million athletes globally.
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is the world governing body for the sports of baseball, softball, and Baseball5. It was established in 2013 by the merger of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and International Softball Federation (ISF). Under the WBSC's organizational structure, the IBAF and ISF serve as the confederation's baseball and softball divisions, respectively. Each division is governed by an executive committee, while the WBSC is governed by an executive board.
Ingmar De Vos is a Belgian professional sports manager serving as the thirteenth and current President of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI). Educated in sports management, business administration and international law, he began his career in mainstream politics before working for the Belgian Equestrian Federation and supported that nation's equestrian teams at the Olympics and the FEI World Equestrian Games. He was one of the founders of the European Equestrian Federation and became secretary-general of the FEI in 2011 prior to being elected President of the organisation in 2014.
The International Testing Agency, often referred to by the acronym ITA, is an independent organisation constituted as a non-profit foundation which implements anti-doping programs for international sports federations, major event organizers or any other anti-doping organisation requiring support. The organisation was created in 2018 under the supervision of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to promote independence, expertise and transparency in the global fight against doping. Its headquarters are located in the city of Lausanne in Switzerland.
Umar Kremlev is a Russian sports functionary who has served as the President of the International Boxing Association (IBA) since 2020. He has been Secretary General and Member of the Executive Committee of the Boxing Federation of Russia since February 2017. In 2022, IBA members voted against holding an election, 106-36, allowing Kremlev to remain IBA president.
World Boxing is an international sports organization regulating amateur boxing. It was formed in response to the breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee and the Russian-led International Boxing Association over governance and integrity problems in the latter.
