Finnish minister may face integrity check over her IOC membership

Several Finnish politicians have a dual role as members of the National Olympic Committee in Finland, which may raise an integrity issue for the Finnish Centre for Integrity in Sports (FINCIS).

The dual role of Finnish politicians in the leadership of Finnish sport has not been a major topic of debate in Finland so far, but it could happen in the future, says Pia Ek, chair of FINCIS, in an interview with Play the Game.

A case in point is Olympic race walker Sari Essayah's many roles as chair of the Christian Democrats, minister of agriculture and forestry, member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and member of the National Olympic Committee in Finland.

"It could become an integrity issue. Sari Essayah represents the Christian Democrats, who, for example, have a stand on Israel which is quite different from the majority, and this could of course also become a sport-related geopolitical issue," the FINCIS chair said.

She was referring to Sari Essayah's disagreement with Finland's decision to vote in favour of a UN proposal to declare Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal.

Sari Essayah has Moroccan roots but also a history as a member of the European Parliament's delegation to Israel. Her special position on the UN declaration sparked public debate in Finland, because Finnish politicians rarely disagree on the country's foreign policy.

The problems of preserving independence in a country club

Pia Ek spoke to Play the Game about the dual roles of Finnish politicians' as Olympic leaders after her participation in a session at Play the Game 2025 in Tampere titled “Rethinking sport ethics and integrity: Learnings from Finland”.

During the session in Tampere, Pia Ek answered a question of independence in the Finnish sport integrity system by noting that a wise person once said: “Finland is not a country - it’s a country club.”

The quote refers to the fact that only 5.5 million people live in Finland, and it led the panel to discuss how to ensure independence in sport integrity inside a small country where many leaders often have different roles and risk being accused of having conflicts of interest.

Finnish media have not discussed the issue either

Joose Palonen, head of sports and events at the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), noted that in recent years the National Olympic Committee of Finland has had several cases about integrity issues such as good governance, sexual harassment, and transparency.

But the question of politicians' dual roles as actors in the political system as well as the Olympic system has not been addressed by the Finnish media.

“Maybe it is because being a member of the IOC is not widely understood. Why is somebody a member of the IOC? What does it mean? The IOC is kind of a shady system in the eyes of the public,” Joose Palonen told Play the Game after the session.

He believes it is fair to question Sari Essayah's dual role as a politician and a sports leader, but he also points out that no one in the Finnish system has appointed her to the IOC.

“I think that in the eyes of the public, she has two different roles that, in the mind of most people, don’t overlap a lot. I guess that explains why it hasn’t been a big topic. She doesn’t bring her IOC membership up too often. When she is in the Finnish media, she is mostly invited as a politician, and it rarely comes up that she is an IOC member as well.”

Still room for improvement in Finnish integrity system

Together with Denmark, Luxembourg, Canada, Estonia, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Malta, and Switzerland, Finland is among the few nations in the world that have a national sports integrity body.

FINCIS was created in 2016 after two major integrity cases in Finnish sport: the 2001 doping scandal in Finnish cross-country skiing during the World Cup in Lahti and the 2011 match-fixing scandal in Finnish football around the Singaporean match fixer Wilson Raj Perumal.

However, there is still room for improvement in the Finnish sports integrity system according to a new evaluation report on sports ethics and integrity in Finland, which was presented at the session by managing director Vesa Salminen from the independent Finnish analysis institute 4Front.

According to the report, the Finnish sport integrity system is unclear and difficult to grasp, the roles and responsibilities in handling ethical violations and promoting general safe sport issues are unclear, and athletes, coaches, and grassroots actors struggle to have their voices heard in decision-making on integrity matters.

The report recommends that the Finnish sports authorities develop a national sport integrity model that ensures actor commitment and competence and adequate support for all parties involved. The model should also include legislation on sports fraud, introduce a banning order system for sporting events, and prepare a long-term plan to secure funding.

Furthermore, the report recommends a clarification of the legal status of FINCIS as a non-governmental organisation with several international treaty obligations and points to the need for further development of FINCIS’s governance while also ensuring the necessary experts and resources to strengthen its role as an operational and coordinating actor.