Sport policy in Colombia

This article analyses Colombian sport policy from the late nineteenth century to the present. The text evaluates how policies were connected to the ebbs and flows of Colombian politics and the clientelist structures that characterise the country’s public administration. It shows the way in which sport policy was challenged, transformed, and overseen by civil servants and governmental officials. The article also provides some insight into the influence that individuals such as athletes, coaches, and sports entrepreneurs had on the evolution and rationality of the policies enacted after 1925. It shows how economic and political motives restricted the effectiveness of some of these policies amongst women, Afro Colombians, and indigenous populations. Finally, the article suggests that both the state and some sectors of civil society, interested in promoting athletic activities as a symbol of progress and modernity, have been equally influential in the organisational model of Colombian sport.