From rhetoric to representation: athlete-centred governance understood, constructed, and enacted in a mega-sport event

While athlete-centredness is increasingly championed globally by sport organizations, the concept remains vaguely defined and inconsistently operationalized. This creates a systemic gap between rhetoric and the enactment of athlete voice in mega-sports events (MSEs) planning. Despite increasing emphasis on athlete-centred governance, limited empirical research has examined how athlete influence is operationalized within governance structures. This study examines how athlete-centred governance was understood, constructed, and enacted through Athlete Advisory Council (AAC) processes over time (2011-2015) in the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games. Drawing on a qualitative case study design, the research utilizes interpretive process tracing and documentary analysis of organizational documents. The study employs the stakeholder identification and salience model to analyze the influence of athletes through power, legitimacy, and urgency. Reflexivity was employed to leverage the lead researcher's positionality as the former AAC vice-chair while maintaining analytical rigor. The findings reveal a five-phase lifecycle of athlete-centred governance. Results demonstrate that athlete-centred governance operated through embedded epistemic influence and structured operational integration rather than formal redistribution of decision-making power. Athlete legitimacy and urgency expanded through sustained horizontal and vertical integration while institutional authority remained centralized. Rather than functioning solely as symbolic representation, formal inclusion enabled athletes to contribute meaningfully to feasibility discussions, organizational planning, and operational delivery despite constrained formal authority. These findings position athlete-centred governance as a form of bounded empowerment in which influence is exercised relationally, operationally, and epistemically rather than primarily through formal voting power.