sportocrat

plural sportocrats

1. informalSomeone who performs administrative work in a sports association or federation, but is not an athlete themselves.

   [Byline:] Games are for players, not politicians and sportocrats

   1996 August 5, “Fools' Gold”, in The Times, number 65650, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 17

   4 more examples

   The sportocrats say they must purge us of our past sins and dopers. But that picture I have of Lance on the podium isn't disappearing, and unless we're all willing to say Daniele Nardello—Daniele Nardello!—was the best rider of his generation, we're going to have to live with a little dirt on our champions.

   2012 August 25, Jeremy Repanich, “So Wait, Who Actually Won All Those Tour De France Titles?”, in VICE News, archived from the original on 22 Aug 2025

   Now that he's president of the Russian basketball federation, AK47 is really leaning into his role as a powerful sportocrat—he looks like supervillain.

   2017 April 27, Dan Gartland, “Andrei Kirilenko looks like a Bond villain now”, in Sports Illustrated, New York, N.Y.: Arena Group Holdings, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2026

   Two days later, the Times editorial read, "Fool's Gold: Games are for players, not politicians and sportocrats." So what if Britain's medal score was a quarter of Germany's, a third of France's, half of Italy's? After all, America bashing (and German bashing) is more fun, “jolly good fun,” rather like throwing bread rolls at an[…]

   2021 April 27, Henry Cassell Ruschmeyer, The English Way of Life: A Critique, Christian Faith Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

   Moscow slammed the ban, saying it brought politics into sport. That charge stung the sportocrats in Switzerland, who hate nothing more than being branded as political.

   2026 February 11, Bruce Berglund, “Russia plays prideful, but there's no doubt the Olympics ban is hurting”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Feb 2026