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Olympians Banned From Blogging
nodwick writes "CNN reports that in a bid to protect its lucrative media contracts, the IOC is barring competitors, coaches, and support personnel from writing firsthand accounts of their Olympic experience, on the web or in print, for the duration of the Games. Nor are they allowed to ever post photographs or movies that they've taken, including media of themselves, even after the Games are finished. They've threatened to disqualify anyone that violates their restrictions and sue them for monetary damages. Looks like an effort to clamp down on grassroots, word-of-mouth publicity for the Olympics -- good thing they're not having any problems selling tickets anyways, eh?"
I would rather get the reports right from the competitors but the reality is that this is not about the people that are actually competing and more about the talking heads of the networks. Unfortunately we will put up with this and just say tsk! tsk!
Stay tuned for new sig...
...the legality of the actions taken. For, who actually owns the Olympic games? How can these rights be changed from country to country? I'm absolutely flustered by it all, especially since I thought that, in the first place, taking photos at an event was entirely legal.
The Political Programmer
Just another in a long list of reasons for me to not waste my time watching the Olympics on TV. I remember when just being at the Olympics was enough to justify a lifelong pursuit of perfection. Nowadays, it's just a ticket to a lucrative advertising career, and you'd better get the gold, because 2nd place won't get you on a Wheaties box.
I'm sure this argument will be echoed by other posters, but I think this "Olympic blackout" policy by the IOC is getting ridiculous.
But I also think that the problem is self-repairing.
As it becomes more and more obvious that the Olympics are becoming NOTHING more than a corporate subsidized media event, the whole thing will revert to non-commercial, non-exclusive, pure competition. (Athletic competition, not commercial.)
Of course, we might have to endure the NBC/Nike Olympic Games! first.
Forbidding the athletes to post their own pictures is insane. I guess since the IOC makes the rules, they can just dis-allow someone from participating for any reason they want...but it's definately insane.
--Welcome to the Realm of the Hawke--
Are Belong To Us
Let's see...you train your whole life to have a shot at this thing, enjoy the moment, and want to share that moment with anyone and everyone using your own words. Sounds like natural progression in technology, eh?
Well, too bad. You've got corporate sponsors -- shoes, clothes, probably even the plane ticket to Athens. Then you've got people who commercialize this event so bad that they won't even let you share your thoughts unless they can make money off of it. You're a commodity, not some olympic hero. You're merchandise to be marketed and sold to a public who admire you. Your honor and glory amount to a feel-good story soundbyte...and that's about it.
So much for the spirit of the olympics. I'd have taken the laurel wreath and the vat of olive oil. Then again I'm not an athlete...and I'm not at all marketable...so a good bottle of olive oil sounds nice.
The cold war is over. The feeling of 'east versus west' is gone. A lot of people don't care anymore. After the blatantly corrupt money-grab of the previous Olympics, even fewer people care. Attempts by the organization to commodify all aspects of the Olympic experience will only accelerate the trend.
For me, the most heartening and yet saddest aspect of this debacle is the recognition of the power of the web to convey stories and images much faster and more efficiently than traditional outlets. I suppose the future is here, I guess I just hoped for something else.
The capital of Washington is Olympia, named for the Olympic mountains. The name predates the modern olympic games. There are a lot of stores in Olympia and other parts of Washinton that use "Olympic" in their name...or used to. The IOC sued them for trademark infringement several years ago and most changed their names rather than bankrupt themselves fighting the IOC in court.
I think it's time for the world public to retake control of the IOC, they are completely out of control and destroying the games in their mad pursuit of money.
I wonder if some bozo, say...me...were to start writing a blog about the Olympics as if I'm really there covering it.
Could I get sued even though I'm not there and I'm just making everything I write up?
If I had the time I would...but I'm too busy writing Slashdot comments.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
A small university in Nebraska held an event called the Rat Olympics, but the Olympics Committee apparently owns a trademark on the name of an ancient contest, and threatened to sue. There was no sense behind it, since the Rat Olympics was just a little event held by the Phychology department, but apparently the Olympics people are determined to prove to everyone that they sold their consciences.
Although not seen this year, really, whenever the Olympics are held in a US city, there are lots of stories about how lots of companies with "olympic" in their names are chased down by the USOC/IOC.
Sure, some of it is trying to catch the coattails. But going after a greek restaurant named "Olympic Cafe", which maybe has a stylized discus or javelin thrower or greek warrior head on it?
Look at all the guff they've thrown at the Special Olympics, the Paralympic Games, etc. in the past.
The IOC/USOC/media companies are so worried about "protecting" their investments that they are pissing on any sort of grassroots or whatever about it.
I am enjoying watching some of the coverage, but because the US coverage is SOOO overly American-focused, it's disappointing. It gets worse every 2 years now, with Bob Costas inching slowly downward each time with his stupid, dismissive remarks. I like Bob Costas, in the right domain. NBC might as well have Bill Walton or Marv Albert doing the same thing as Bob. Jim Lampley (of course, he got started when ABC used to do it...) would be 100x better than Bob Costas in that role.
Oh well. For those of you that can get non-NBC coverage of the Games, you're lucky!
I don't know why this is modded as "Funny", but what the heck...
Some other interesting tidbits to note:
The IOC (AFAIK) isn't based in any one country, so where would the lawsuits take place?
Under what laws would competitors be held liable?
How would this be any different than the average attendee posting results on *their* blog? How would they know? Does the IOC even care?
I'm sure the IOC would be able to prevent most video and still cameras from entering the events with a non-media attendee, but they can't stop them from remembering what went on and reporting about it verbally.
I found it very sneaky that NBC has full broadcast rights to the games in the USA, and has, with the cooperation of the IOC and other online media outlets, beaten back the "official" real-time online broadcasts from entering our borders. Methinks that NBC might have something to do with this new action by the IOC.
Just a hunch, though.
My sources are unreliable, but their information is fascinating. -- Ashleigh Brilliant
Their legacy extends to their hyperlinking policy, which says that you have to apply in writing - they even include a snail-mail address - before linking to the Athens Olympic site.
Blog
That's why the Gay Games are not the Gay Olympics. It is particularly silly in that case, considering that the original Olympics consisted of naked athletes performing for horny male spectators.
Back in about 1988 or so, they went after "Olympics of the Mind", who had to change their name to Odyssey of the Mind.
You know, a while back Fidel Castro was lobbying for a Havana Olympics, perhaps in 2012, but I can't remember. Anyway, the IOC said that it was impossible because Havana doesn't have the required infrastructure.
Castro's response was that he knew his country didn't have the kind of resources to provide an ultra-modern olympic village like other countries do, but that despite their apparent lack of infrastructure and small size, Cuba has always produced good athletes. His opinion was that in a less modern country, athletes would have to focus on the game more than the money, and that the Olypmics was becoming too commercialized.
At the time I laughed, because to Castro, buying a candybar with your own money is probably too commercialized, but after reading the last few articles about IOC shenanigans I'm beginning to wonder if Havana wouldn't be a good place for the games. You can bet your tush that Castro wouldn't allow it to be the Corporatist games. Hey, he may be a communist dictator, but sometimes, that's a good thing. Can you imagine an olympic games without coca-cola ads everywhere, but instead, just a bunch of the best athletes in the world competing?
I haven't seen anything other than swimming, gymnastics, or beach volleyball.
Then you're not just a troll, but one without a television. Let's see what's been shown today that ISN'T one of your hated sports...
I believe NBC said they would cover something like 3 hours in EVERY SPORT. From what I've been taping this week, I have to agree. I've seen rafting, some sort of weird round-ball-with-hands, fencing, five more listed above, and all the other "hated" sports. Just because you're too lazy to look doesn't mean it's not there.
specific Olympian and the media's quest to make the rest of us idolize him
Ready? People like heroes. It's cool to see. Even if he didn't medal, the fact that he's racing 18 times is pretty darn impressive. The fact that he's winning... what, does it piss you off that someone's doing well? If it annoys you that much, hit mute and just watch and enjoy the games. Even if you hate him, guess what? You're getting more swimming, which more people are watching.
Wah.
I saw his cocky little smile showing that he wanted MONEY.
And? What's wrong with that? More power to him. What is with the communist screed on slashdot over certain things?
why not make rules banning professionals from competing
I'll agree with you there. That was the whole point of bringing the Dream Team over the first time - you want pro, we'll bring pro. I'll agree with what Costas said... "Unfortunately, marketing won."
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
Guess the Games have become about money too now.
They are also about the orgy that is the Olympic Village.
Yeah, I remember that. Completely disgusting--to one the one hand attempt to claim a 2000-plus-year-old heritage and a shared world experience, and on the other hand to claim that it's all your own private property.
Though I wonder whether anyone's ever actually fought them on this, or whether they're all just giving in when they get the first cease-and-desist letter. Does anyone know of any actual cases?
--Bruce Fields
The radio station serving Whistler BC, home of the next Winter Olympic games, isnt allowed to use the term '2010' in any sense that makes reference to the event other than in news reports. And some here joked that the current IP madness would result in corporate control of numbers and letters.
I was watching the US women's soccer match against Australia the other morning, and the stands were quite honestly emptier than any stands I've ever seen for any sporting event, ever. The Whitbread across the ocean yacht race had more spectators. Mile 143 of the Iditarod had more spectators.
There were no spectators on the far side of the stadium from the cameras. There were no spectators in the stands at either end zone. Not figuratively; literally: zero. And while I know that there must have been some spectators on the near side, because I heard one or two "USA!" cheers and, I think, an "Aussie Aussie Aussie!" cheer (also, the announcers mentioned that some of the players had family in attendance), they were invisible to the high stadium camera.
Presumably, they were all clustered low, near the center line or behind the benches; but with the exception of one suspiciously close-cropped shot of a couple of cheering fans used as B-roll footage on a return from commercial, there was no visual evidence that anyone was in attendance.
Now, I understand that women's socccer is not exactly as popular in Greece as it is in America, or even, say, Germany or Mexico; but I live in Atlanta and, you know, we sold out Archery -- not exactly a sport designed for thrilling live audiences -- in 1996. We sold out Field Hockey. We sold out the Modern Pentathlon. We sold out Team Handball, fer chrissakes, and it's hard to imagine a more obscure or unpopular sport in America (my wife and I went to it, too, and it was great fun to watch).
As I said to King Kaufman at Salon.com, "2004 in Athens marks the first Olympics to ever be boycotted by its host country."
Here in Greece we have shorts of stuff named Olympi-something all over the place. Mount Olympus, Olympic hotel, Olympic airways and so on. At least here, it would appear utterly insane to try to force someone not use that name. Hell, I personally know of many girls named "Olympia".
What sort of stupidity is this? Surely they can't own the damn name since they haven't invented it in the first place.