It’s never simple! People, power and relationships in the United Kingdom Olympic sport policy system. A commentary

Moore, Lucy; Oakley, Ben and Twitchen, Alex (2024). It’s never simple! People, power and relationships in the United Kingdom Olympic sport policy system. A commentary. Journal of Sports Sciences (Early access).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2411133

Abstract

Drawing on insights from the United Kingdom [UK], this commentary illustrates the complexity of the Olympic sport policy process and proposes a conceptual approach that situates people at the forefront of the analysis. The approach is informed by process sociology to illustrate the importance of understanding complexity as the consequence of interdependent relationships that bind people together within a policy figuration. Extracts from interviews undertaken with nine senior National Governing Body employees, who are responsible for implementing Olympic sport policy, are drawn on to inform the proposed approach. Their extracts illustrate that conversations and dialogue, often undertaken in the context of meetings, are central to understanding how the policy process is played out as a game-like activity. It is also demonstrated how this affects the wellbeing of the individuals involved. With more money and more people employed within the Olympic sport system the interdependencies and inherent complexity of the system has increased. We conclude that it may be conceptually better to now describe this as a figuration rather than a system.