How Keirin became an Olympic sport

The BBC has obtained documents that suggest Japanese cycling event organizers paid millions of dollars to the Union Cycliste Iternationale (UCI) in the 1990′s, ultimately achieving the aim of having a Japanese cycling sport called keirin included in the Olympic games:

For years there have been rumours in cycling that the Japanese gave money to the UCI in return for its promotion of keirin as an Olympic event.

According to one member of the UCI at the time, the Japanese donated a “big envelope” in return for access.

Denmark’s Henrik Elmgreen was also a member cycling’s governing body at the time.

“We must admit that when they came it was because the Japanese were very influential in the UCI and they offered a lot of money in order to promote this discipline.

“You can to a certain extent say they bought their way in but on the other hand it is a spectacular discipline.

“Everybody knew the Japanese were supporting the world cup series and were supporting everything and I think everybody realised that they weren’t doing it for nothing.

“They wanted something in return and everybody knew what they got in return.”

Keirin is one of several racing sports that that people can gamble on legally in Japan. According to the BBC, the industry makes tens of millions of dollars in gambling revenue every year.