Meaning
The use of hosting, sponsoring, or promoting sport to burnish a tarnished reputation or deflect attention from human-rights abuses and other controversies, typically said of states or ultra-wealthy owners. Derogatory and accusatory: the word presupposes bad faith, so it belongs to critical commentary and campaigning rather than neutral reporting. Derogatory and politically charged; used by critics and rights advocates, and firmly rejected by the governments and owners it targets. Regional use: General English; strongest in British, European, and Middle East sports coverage.
Origin
Formed from sport plus whitewash, on the model of greenwashing, to describe reputation laundering through games. No individual coiner is documented. Wikipedia's history of the term points to coverage of Azerbaijan's hosting of the 2015 European Games in Baku as possibly its earliest applied use, and Dictionary.com dates its first recorded use to 2010-15. Human-rights groups and sports journalists spread it, and it became routine currency around the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Qatar's roughly 220-billion-dollar buildup to the 2022 tournament, and Saudi investment across golf, football, and esports. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reportedly embraced the label himself, saying the kingdom would keep doing it. A derivative, esportswashing, covers competitive gaming, and some scholars caution the charge is applied selectively.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- esportswashing
- sport washing
- sport-washing
- sportswash
Usage Examples
- Human-rights groups called the boxing contract a textbook case of sportswashing.
- The documentary asks whether staging the Olympics has become sportswashing for repressive hosts.
- He brushed off the sportswashing allegations by pointing to decades of grassroots investment.