Sarah Teetzel, assistant professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, will be doing research for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its official archive and headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland before heading to London to watch the Olympic Games.

Teetzel’s research examines the intersection of rules and values in sport – from doping technology and gender studies, to Olympic studies.

What Teetzel and the IOC want to know is, is it fair for some countries to bring an unlimited number of support personnel to the Olympic Games to assist only their athletes?

Her project examines the historical involvement of athletes’ entourages and the philosophical justification for including support personnel on Olympic rosters.

She will evaluate the roles of the entourage from the perspectives of fairness, justice, equality of opportunity, and coherence with the philosophy of Olympism. Rationales for expanding, minimizing or changing the number of support personnel each country brings will be examined to determine if there is more value in including additional non-athletic participants to provide more people with Olympic experiences, or if there is more value in promoting the shared use of the host country’s support personnel.

Media interested in speaking with Teetzel should contact her at 204-474 8762 before she departs for the IOC Archives on June 20. She can, however, be reached by email before and after this date at Sarah.Teetzel@ad.umanitoba.ca

For more information contact Sean Moore, Marketing Communications Office, University of Manitoba, 204-474-7963 (sean_moore@umanitoba.ca).