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Sports entered the arena of international relations at the beginning of the 20th century and has remained there ever since. As a dramatic and symbolic vehicle for “peaceful” confrontation between nations, it has flourished especially during the Olympic Games, a globalized media event. This competition is the product of the Olympic system, which brings together a sporting sphere dominated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), an economic sphere made up of broadcasters and sponsors, a regulatory sphere (Court of Arbitration for Sport and World Anti-Doping Agency) and external players who attempt to use the latter for geopolitical ends (states and NGOs). It is mainly states that instrumentalize sport, using international relations tools such as recognition, influence and power strategies. NGOs and athletes tend to act as stowaways, using their own techniques (naming and shaming and ambush marketing). As for the IOC, it is trying to keep control of the Games by using its right of recognition and its corollary, exclusion. In addition, it has had to develop economic and sports diplomacy in an attempt to counter certain strategies of influence attempted by other players, and to draw closer to the UN.