The intriguing decision of Panam Sports and others

Introduces the Olympic values and looks at how they relate to a recent Panam Sports decision.

In theory, in the semantics of romantic writing, and in the narrative of many lectures shouted with lungs full of air, inhaled with deep and almost divine inspiration, there are precepts and ethical and moral values that lead us toward improvement, the impulse, where we find ourselves in a protected place, under the guardianship of people aware of these values and of their literal and much-needed meanings. But as in many moments of our daily lives, practice is very often the opposite of the real meaning of these values. They must be applied not only by those who take part in the Olympic Movement but above all in our everyday lives, in any of our daily duties, whether or not we take an active part in the Olympic Movement. Even as observers and supporters of the Olympic Movement and its Olympic Games, with their athletes and delegations, we are indirectly part of this ecosystem.

But at what price must we sacrifice the reality of what really happens to us, at every level of experience we have, in business and in the company, for this to be put into practice? To make it our reality?

On its website, the Olympic Movement, led and guided intellectually and operationally by the International Olympic Committee, wrote about the Values of Olympism:

"...They form the basis on which the Olympic Movement builds its activities to promote sport, culture and education with a view to building a better world....

... The original Values of Olympism expressed in the Olympic Charter were "encouraging effort", "preserving human dignity" and "developing harmony".

Over time, they have evolved and are now expressed in more contemporary terms, such as:

Strive for excellence and encourage people to be the best they can be.

Celebrate friendship, which is unique to the Olympic Games, an event that brings people together every few years.

Show respect in many ways: respect for yourself, for the rules, for opponents, for the environment, for the public, etc...

... Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.

The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating young people through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play ..."

We must believe that these precepts inherent in the Olympic Charter are the guiding light for all the actions of the Olympic Movement, of the Olympic Competitions and of the International Olympic Committee, which safeguards and represents these actions and the demands of its Continental Olympic Bodies, so that it is likewise the protector and promoter of these same Olympic Values.

Believing in these points, it matters to be aware of the total lack of memory, real application and observance of those same Values of Olympism and Values of the Olympic Movement. They are literally torn to pieces, together with the Olympic Charter, when Continental Olympic Committees such as PANAM SPORTS OLYMPIC (PSO) and the EUROPEAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (EOC) act with inattention and with negative and malicious disruption. In doing so, they spread disinformation directly through their unilateral attitude and partisan choice, by choosing a so-called "international esports body, founded in 2019" (which, by the way, has zero experience in Esports events, no internal rules, no bylaws, no infrastructure, no Legal environment regularly formed by committees through internal regulations, and a total lack of transparency), and starting to promote Esports in the Americas and in Europe in "strategic partnerships".

Indirectly, the PANAM Olympic committee and the EUROPEAN Olympic committee are supporting a great mistake, as I explained above, spreading FAKE NEWS, negative disruption and internal fights at national level, peacefully tearing up the Values of Olympism. Through this "strategic partnership", PANAM SPORTS OLYMPIC (PSO) and the EUROPEAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (EOC) support this "international esports body, founded in 2019" so that it can announce nationally and regionally the false statement (therefore disinformation and fake news) that it is "duly empowered" to carry out competitive actions in Esports. This follows exclusively from a mistaken choice, inadequate and totally outside the context of the Olympic Values, made by PANAM SPORTS OLYMPIC (PSO) and the EUROPEAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (EOC) in favor of, and solely for, the "international esports body, founded in 2019", while there is still no international understanding, however late and due, of which body should administratively represent institutional Esports at international level, as is done with many regular sports such as football, basketball and so on.

Here comes the golden question: "What criteria led Panam Sports Olympic (PSO) and the European Olympic Committee (EOC) to choose one body over the other? Why did they never answer the call of the continental governing esports body in the Americas (PAMESCO) or in Europe (EEF), after so many years of trying to do so and to present institutional Esports?" I will ask again later in the article.

The minimum expected of a body whose work is directly linked to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), such as PANAM SPORTS OLYMPIC (PSO) and the EUROPEAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (EOC), would be neutrality and independent promotion of Esports, if that were the real internal intention of these bodies for these regions. We think it should be to "promote this new category, with the proper technical, sporting, political and social guidance of their parent organization, the International Olympic Committee, and above all add to Esports the VALUE OF OLYMPISM and the VALUES OF THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT, guiding and being the example to follow". Unfortunately it is clear that the example is exactly the opposite, and must not be followed.

Mr. Pierre de Coubertin must be very disappointed wherever he is now. In fact I think he is disappointed for several reasons and not only this one, but that is another conversation.

The institutional Esports ecosystem, at first and specifically the federative model (institutional Esports), at any level, has been built with great difficulty for several reasons that we could not discuss here, but that have certainly been discussed in other articles I wrote myself, as well as in debates and several forums I took part in in different places around the world.

This ecosystem is fragile, for known reasons, and mainly for two reasons:

1) education and experience, and

2) technical and political reasons. More specifically when it comes to national bodies that intend to be the administrators of the category in their own countries.

For the first item, education and experience: the people linked to the federative model are, for the most part, inexperienced in administrative and operational management, even more so in these two areas within the national and international institutional sports system. Their lack of expertise and knowledge of the international administrative pyramid chain, added to the lack of financial and infrastructure support in management and operation models, leads them to follow crooked and incorrect paths in their decisions. This is partly because of that lack of education and experience in sports management systems, and partly for lack of someone to educate them, who in this case should be the international and continental body these national bodies belong to.

On the other hand, for the second item, technical and political reasons: there are countries where the Constitution guarantees freedom of association for any national sports body, and where the prerogative of non-interference by government bodies in the free practice of sport is guaranteed. In such countries each citizen has the constitutional right to join or not join class administrative bodies, including the national administrative bodies of sport, as explained earlier, and also the free practice of sport without needing an indicative authorization from the government. Brazil is one of these cases.

In other governments, this choice of the national sports administrative body is the sole and exclusive responsibility of the government, as in the case of Mexico, over the head of the Mexican Olympic Committee itself. In other countries the government follows the body appointed by the National Olympic Committee. In Europe we have the same situation.

Many countries in the Americas and in Europe still have two or more national bodies affiliated to one or another international esports federation as national regulators, but with enormous and significant differences, whether at the administrative level or in legal documentation, and especially when they promote the practice of Esports and social and educational projects in their country. So we can have different national federations in many countries, but we know who is who by their actions in their countries, and this reflects directly on the international federations they are affiliated with.

The membership criteria used by an international esports federation when choosing national bodies should from the outset take into account their years of practical life and other extremely important factors in investigating those national bodies, beyond their legal documents. These include in particular compliance with the bilateral treaties of support, recognition and friendship that these national bodies hold with other sports bodies and with organizations in different areas.

The fact is that, instead of promoting any of the Olympic Values, the attitude of choosing to work with this "international esports body, founded in 2019", as PANAM SPORTS OLYMPIC (PSO) and the EUROPEAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (EOC) did, is totally negative and contrary to the good administrative behavior expected of such bodies. At national level in the Americas and Europe, as said before, it causes disturbance where we should have friendship, it causes disinformation where we should educate, it causes fights where we should have respect, it causes negative comparisons where we should have inspiration, it causes disappointment where we should have inspiration, it causes war where we should promote a peaceful world, and above all it causes discrimination, where we should have the opposite.

All these consequences come precisely from promoting the opposite of what we have in the Olympic Charter, as stated eleven paragraphs above using the passage taken from the website of the International Olympic Committee itself. In this "game" played by PANAM SPORTS OLYMPIC (PSO) and the EUROPEAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (EOC), fair play was replaced by behavior contrary to any precept of good Olympic conduct. It leaves us to question the motivations, bases, parameters and criteria that led them to partner with this "international esports body, founded in 2019", rather than with so many others (PAMESCO, EEF and above all the international IESF), which for many years have sought dialogue with PANAM SPORTS OLYMPIC (PSO) and the EUROPEAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (EOC) without any success, or even the smallest initial possibility of dialogue.

If it is due to political and managerial influence, exercised through the "friendships" of former work partners, as we know there is a very strong possibility, or due to financial matters, this creates an unprecedented conflict of interest. It is a shame in the current reality of our daily life, where we seek, more than ever, compliance in administrative management, and its practice and application through transparency, uprightness and honesty.

Moreover, in order to promote this choice of such an "international esports body, founded in 2019", resulting from this mistaken and illogical decision regarding the current moment of institutional Esports, made by PANAM SPORTS OLYMPIC (PSO) and the EUROPEAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (EOC), over another international esports body that is older and wiser, or over continental bodies such as PAMESCO and EEF, which have operated in the Americas and Europe for at least six years in the case of the American region, they allow some of the national bodies belonging to this "international esports body, founded in 2019" to do exactly the opposite of the Values of Olympism presented in the Olympic Charter in their own countries. This also puts in question the work of many national bodies that are not part of this so-called "international esports body, founded in 2019". Other national federations of the older international esports federation, for example, have been doing their work for years in an exemplary way, promoting even more than the Values of Olympism themselves, as is the case of Brazil with CBDEL (affiliated with IESF, WESCO and PAMESCO), as well as many other countries. Their primary responsibility is to protect the athletes and teams belonging to their systems.

We even learned that in a meeting held on 9 November 2022 between PANAM SPORTS OLYMPIC (PSO) and that "international esports body founded in 2019", according to witnesses who took part in that meeting and a video of it, there was a DIRECT recommendation that National Olympic Committees found or form national bodies or organizations to promote the activities arising from this partnership, especially for 2023, if those countries had no national Esports members affiliated with that so-called international esports body founded in 2019. Even though this is technically and legally impossible in some countries such as Brazil, it is an unscrupulous, immoral attitude, unworthy of the International Olympic Movement, in this specific case represented by PANAM SPORTS. It is totally against what we believe, as already shown here through the Olympic Charter and the Values of Olympism that the International Olympic Committee values and upholds in its daily work before the whole world. Such an attitude has immeasurably negative consequences, at unprecedented Legal, social and educational levels.

This is a tremendously dangerous and terrible situation, possibly promoting the wrong national bodies simply because, eventually, instead of the right national bodies, and these other bodies probably may have done NOTHING in the past (most of the national federations are part of this "international esports body, founded in 2019"), most of them recently founded, literally doing nothing about their real responsibility for education, innovation, social inclusion and promoting excellence in institutional (federative) Esports. In fact, some of these bodies may even be doing the complete opposite.

The failure to observe details so intrinsic to ethics and morals in the practice of good administration, and the example to be set by bodies such as PANAM SPORTS OLYMPIC and the EUROPEAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, leaves us with several questions, as we asked three paragraphs above, and leads us to have less confidence in the management of sports bodies at this level, without losing faith in the Olympic Movement and its values, which were and are examples of what humanity has to offer.

I know that in most cases the best way to be noticed and understood is silence, and that we should show what we want to be only through our work. But while the forgotten side, the international esports federation (IESF) and the continental esports confederations (PAMESCO and EEF), those not chosen in the Americas by PANAM SPORTS OLYMPIC (PSO) and in Europe by the EUROPEAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (EOC), remain silent, I believe I have a duty to bring the due, real and correct facts here. Sometimes our silent work is seen but not understood, and at those times we need to shout so that our silence may be heard.