Fixing now poses the biggest threat to the integrity of the Olympics, the British minister for the 2012 London Games told The Sunday Times newspaper, citing illegal Asian betting rings. Olympics minister Hugh Robertson said fixing had overtaken drugs cheats in terms of the threat posed to the reputation of the Games. “You cannot underestimate the threat this poses because the moment that spectators start to feel that what they are seeing in front of them is not a true contest, that is when spectators stop turning up and the whole thing falls to pieces,” he told the weekly broadsheet.
He said he thought betting authorities in Western countries were “well set up” to spot illegal activity but criticised the lack of regulation in Asia, both on the Indian sub-continent and in the Far East. Robertson cited the recent cricket corruption scandal, in which three Pakistan players were jailed in Britain for their part in spot-fixing, pre-arranged elements in a match which betting rings can make money on.