体坛英语新闻：Yearender: World sports under shadow of scandals

TIANJIN, China, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Sports in 2015 will be best remembered for a string of high-profile scandals in soccer and athletics.

Seven officials of FIFA were arrested in Switzerland in May, just one day before the world soccer governing body's congress, accused of taking bribes totaling more than 100 million U.S. dollars from commercial deals dating back to the 1990s.

In November, IAAF president Lamine Diack, who had served as the world athletics chief for 16 years until August, was arrested by French investigators on charge of corruption.

The sensational news from the most-watched sports shook the world and brought to light a series of corruption scandals.

Meanwhile, the hosting rights of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup, won by Russia and Qatar, have been in doubt since. And the U.S. town of Eugene, host to the IAAF 2021 World Championships, was also questioned for the absence of a formal bidding procedure.

Furthermore, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said in November that Russia had conducted "widespread cheating through the use of doping substances and methods to ensure, or enhance the likelihood of, victory for athletes and teams". Thus, all Russian athletes and support staff were suspended from all international competitions.

After 40 years in charge of FIFA, the 79-year-old president Sepp Blatter was banned for eight years from all football-related activities in December.

THE END OF "BIG SHOT SPORTS"

Although he was re-elected as FIFA president two days after the arrest of seven officials, Blatter's 17-year stint as soccer chief came to an end. The year also put an end to the careers of Diack and some other big shots in world sports.

The "big shot sports" could date back to the 1980s. Through efforts of those former chiefs - Joao Havelange, Juan Antonio Samaranch and Primo Nebiolo - FIFA, IOC and IAAF have grown to juggernauts with huge commercial influences rather than NOGs like before.

After some 20 years in power, these chiefs had built a tenure tradition with unlimited power. For instance, FIFA statues rule that "recourse to ordinary courts of law is prohibited unless specifically provided for in the FIFA regulations."

Exposure of bribes and kickbacks in the 2002 Winter Olympics bid led to the reforming of the IOC which limited the tenure to no more than eight years. After an anti-corruption storm swept over the world of sports this year, both FIFA and IAAF were reported to launch reforms to stop the "big shot era".

CREDIBILITY CRISIS

It is the United States that pushed for the arrests and investigations of allegedly corrupt FIFA officials in May after the Ukraine crisis had torn apart the Russia-West relations. With the exposure of corruption in FIFA, Russia's right to host the 2018 World Cup was also put into question.

"This is another blatant attempt to extend U.S. jurisdiction to other countries, also an attempt to prevent the re-election of Blatter," Russian president Vladimir Putin said.

Jack Warner, former FIFA vice president, said that if the United States, not Qatar, had won the bid for 2022 World Cup, there might not be the ongoing corruption investigations into FIFA.

Analysts believe that anti-corruption efforts in sports are necessary, but "selective investigation", being conducted by the United States, might lead to even more serious credibility crisis in sports world.