The 2024 Olympic Games – the largest multisport event on the calendar – take place in Paris from 26 July to 11 August.

The Games give rise to a number of legal issues, with some being organisational, such as those involving planning permission and security, and others sports-related. The French government has sought to tackle both categories with a new law, the ‘Loi no 2023-380 du 19 mai 2023 relative aux jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de 2024 et portant diverses autres dispositions’.

This law enhances the security and anti-doping powers that may be utilised by the French government. The legislation wasn’t universally supported by the French parliament, however, due to concerns that the proposed security measures were too strict. ‘The legal issue we have is, how are you going to strike a balance between what you need to do as a hosting state to protect people from any type of terrorist attack, troublemaking or demonstration? How do you make sure that you actually achieve a degree of protection but also have some respect for freedom, individual liberties and privacy?’ says Diane Mullenex, Chair of the IBA Leisure Industries Section and partner at Pinsent Masons.

Mullenex foresees legal challenges against these regulations, and against other measures such as the repossession of student dormitories for Olympic accommodation, although she adds that the events of the Covid-19 pandemic have helped Parisians become more accustomed to restrictions on, for example, their freedom of movement.

But the Olympic Games are first and foremost a sporting event, and it’s in this realm that lawyers are perhaps most heavily involved. In the lead-up to Paris 2024, there have been several cases of note. In mid-June, transgender swimmer Lia Thomas lost a case against World Aquatics at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Thomas was seeking to overturn the federation’s ban on transgender women competing in women’s races.

David Sharpe KC, Chair of the Sports Law Subcommittee of the IBA Leisure Industries Section and joint head of 12KBW’s Sports Law Team in London, says the Thomas case will prevent transgender women from competing at an elite level, including in Paris. There was, he says, a real risk of a female athlete boycott in relation to the participation of transgender women but it’s not going to materialise ‘because of the way the sporting legal authorities have moved,’ Sharpe says. ‘It’ll be interesting to see if there’s a new open category created so that transgender athletes can compete without any difficulties or controversy.’

The question of Russia’s participation in the Olympics has also been before CAS, with the body ruling in March that the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) October 2023 suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee for a breach of the Olympic Charter was valid. The panel said the IOC had not breached principles of ‘legality, equality, predictability or proportionality.’

However, with Russian and Belarusian athletes permitted to compete in Paris as neutral athletes, it’s possible some athletes will want to protest against their participation – or against that of other countries, given ongoing conflicts around the world. This type of expression is governed by the IOC’s ‘Rule 50’, which limits athletes’ freedom of expression during ceremonies, competition or in the Olympic Village. 

Sharpe explains that the IOC has powers to impose sanctions against athletes breaking Rule 50 and has used these in the past to safeguard the ancient Olympic truce, intended to stop fighting during the Games.   

The other area where lawyers are always involved during and after an Olympic Games is in anti-doping cases. Where a drugs test comes back positive, a panel – usually chaired by a senior lawyer – will decide if there’s been an anti-doping violation. Lawyers also appear for the relevant sports federation, and for athletes. ‘Lawyers are intrinsic and the anti-doping cases are particularly complex. They’re some of the most complex cases you can do as a lawyer,’ Sharpe says. ‘They’re usually quite high-profile’ and they feature a large amount of medical, scientific and biological information.

He adds there’s been a number of recent doping cases, indicating that unfortunately the use of banned substances remains common, particularly in terms of the manipulation of an athlete’s biological profile. ‘I’d be very, very surprised if there isn’t at least one high-profile doping case arising from these Olympics,’ Sharpe says. 

The 2024 Olympic Games will undoubtedly also raise legal questions over sponsorship and advertising, with brands that don’t pay for Olympic exposure wanting to piggyback off the event’s notoriety. The IOC has strict rules around the use of its brand and the content it produces, which also affect athletes and anyone else involved in the event. The money involved is substantial, so any infringement will most probably be quickly dealt with. 

Image credit: Florence Piot/adobestock.com