Governing bodies must work harder to educate athletes after two German and French rivals fell foul of little-known betting rules.
The three athletes caught this week by the Athletics Integrity Unit for betting on teammates was the first time it had happened in athletics, but it was also inevitable.
In recent years, there have been regular calls, mostly from track fans or social media influencers, to bring gambling into athletics. It has even been suggested as one of the ideas to improve the sport. Proponents of such an idea no doubt envision the kind of bustling bookmaking booths one might encounter at horse races or greyhound races.
Perhaps these gamblers will now pause for thought after news that German discus throwers Henrik Janssen and Steven Richter, along with French middle-distance runner Avro Fleury, have been banned and fined for betting on fellow athletes.
In a press release titled “Zero tolerance for bettingThe AIU said Jansen, 27, and Richter, 22, were suspended for three months, while Fleury, 32, received a six-month ban (from September 1, 2025) and was fined €3,000 to donate to charity. All three athletes have been charged with breaching Standard 3.3.4 of the ‘Maintaining the Integrity of Competition’ and all have admitted to the breach.”
Jansen and Richter spoke of placing relatively small bets on team-mates in their holding camp on the eve of the World Championships in Tokyo last year, while Fleury placed €2,000 on team-mate Alice Finot at the 2024 European Championships in Rome and won €500.
Unsurprisingly, the athletes were mute and claimed to be unaware of the anti-betting rules. I believe them too, because the rules regarding gambling in athletics have been buried in the World Athletics rule books for years and, even if you find the relevant paragraphs, they are vague and difficult to understand.
In the above cases of AAU “Honesty Guide” even the athletes were not circulated by their national governing body despite being asked to do so by the governing body.
In 2007, a leading sports agent created a gambling site, AthleticBet.com, which quickly and inevitably raised questions about potential conflicts of interest, especially when the site offered odds on events in which its athletes competed.
At that time, the representative of World Athletics said: “We’re obviously aware that sports people have been betting on athletics for decades. What’s the difference between going to William Hill and placing a bet or doing it on a website like that?’
The venture was short-lived, and in recent years the only betting you can find on sports is usually provided by well-known bookmakers ahead of major athletics events such as the London Marathon or major summer championships.
I know a number of journalists who not only regularly bet on the sport, but who have acted as consultants to major betting companies at peak times such as the Olympics. I even know a former athletics writer, who sadly passed away recently, who partnered with a professional gambler and they turned a nice profit every summer with a system that, among other things, placed cold and clinical analysis of statistics above emotional or patriotic factors.
The topic has appeared on the pages several times AW: over the years and, for example, in 2024, I wrote a piece titled “Gambling on athletics?” don’t bet on it.” where I talked about how unlikely it was that gambling would be included in athletics events, despite people calling for it to be introduced.
I wrote in the article. “Many fans who are calling for the sport to adopt it may not realize that World Athletics has had a section in its rulebook for many years that prohibits gambling.”
“The current wording says that an ‘applicable person’ (in other words, mainly athletes, officials and governing body staff who have signed the Athletics Integrity Code of Conduct) will be in breach of the integrity standards if they engage in ‘any betting relating to an athletics event or competition, including betting on progress with any other person or the outcome of progress with any other person, the result.” Competition”.
The world rules of athletics continue. “This rule applies to any form of betting in relation to an athletics event or competition, whether or not the Applicant directly participates in that event or competition, and to any betting relating to a sport other than athletics that takes place at an International Competition Organisation.
I’m not a big gambler, but I’m not against it either. Mostly out of tradition, I usually bet on the Grand National every 12 months. Should I dare bet on athletics anyway with my supposed inside knowledge? As a journalist covering the #1 Olympic sport, do I fall into the category of “applicable person” and will I be fined or banned?
Or how about, for example, the teenage sprinter from London who recently made the GB team for the Under 20 International Championships? Will they be allowed to stick some money on Eilish McColgan or Emile Keires to win the London Marathon?
I don’t find the AAU rules particularly clear on this matter. Of course, HIM should continue to work on educating athletes about this area.
Furthermore, you have to feel some sympathy for Jansen, Richter and Fleury because I doubt they are the first athletes to bet on their sport. However, they are the first to be punished for it.
