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Athletes Can Blog at Olympics - with Restrictions
Hugh Pickens writes "The IOC has given athletes the right to blog at the Beijing Games this summer, a first for the Olympics. They're allowed, as long as they follow the many rules it set to protect copyright agreements, confidential information and security. The IOC said blogs by athletes 'should take the form of a diary or journal' and should not contain any interviews with other competitors at the games. They also should not write about other athletes. Still pictures are allowed as long as they do not show Olympic events. Athletes must obtain the consent of their competitors if they wish to photograph them. Also, athletes cannot use their blogs for commercial gain."
From the summary, the rules are basically, "you may blog at the Olympics, but you may not blog about the Olympics. Unless you are blogging about what you had for breakfast at the Olympics, and you do not include pictures."
Woohoo, freedom of the press!
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Or is this a security issue? If it is, then they need to get over it. This is getting ridiculous.
I guess they forgot to add the clause, "except when in China".
*boycots olympic games entirely*
0x or or snor perron?!
China can't just come in take athletes way to political prisons so what does the athletes have to lose?
I woke up in China this morning. The place smells funny.
The group went to a sporting event today, kind of exciting.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll hear some music I like
Goodnight
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So... What exactly would happen to an athlete who violated this "rule"? Would they lose any medals? Be banned from competing? It's one thing to make such "rules", another to enforce them.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Today, the commercial spirit is so strong they have to carefully delimit anything that's published, pictures or words, about the event. Blogs must be carefully examined, lest there's something in there that might diminish the profits of the advertisers...
As they used to say when the Olympics were performed in the interests of sport alone, "O Tempora, O Mores!"
The insane restrictions of the IOC has really killed my interest in the Olympics. And along with the timeshifting the broadcast of events ruins my enjoyment.
The pre-Disney ABC coverage of the Olympics and their Wild World of Sports was the best coverage of the Olympics and no one is ever going to be that good again. Especially with the ironfisted control by the IOC. So fuck you, International Olympics Committee.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
China can't just come in take athletes way to political prisons so what does the athletes have to lose?
No but they can sure disqualify them in a heartbeat, then how does that work?
There is no "disagree" moderation, and troll, flamebait and overrated are not valid substitutes
How I wish the Greek gods existed, so they'd blast China and any corporation involved with the Olympics to hell. The Olypmics used to be a free public event for the 'known world' at that time to compete for fame, honor, and glory. Now it's compete for sponsorship dollars, advertising dollars, and getting your picture on a Wheaties box.
I certainly won't be paying any attention to the Olympics, now. I'll be paying more attention to my cats in competition to see which one can get the little red dot that flies around every so often.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Never mind that the modern Olympics has become rife with corporate sponsorship and bribery allegations. Just as long as the people who are supposed to count in all this - the athletes - don't make any money! Blech.
The thing that really gets me, though, is that althletes are not allowed to make political statements in the stadium - a stadium which is a political statement in itself: 'Hey guys! China's really quite nice! Never mind us raping Tibet, killing our own people and all that - look: Shiny Olympics! We're part of the civilized world! See!'
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-080215-blogging-olympics-ioc,1,7510480.story
Here is the link to the article without registration.
Olympic sport is supposed to be about human pure ability/endurance, not technical innovation. It's the same reason that steroids and such are banned.
If we go by your thinking, why can't athletes use those motorized, piston-powered leg attachments that make you run faster? I feel bad for the guy, but he does have an advantage.
I am a runner myself and running is my life, so I can see where they are coming from.
Gone!
Anyone else notice that as the Olympics has shifted from Nationalism to Commercialism it's viewership and worldwide interest has dropped dramatically? I wonder when the people who run the Olympics will notice that. My guess: once it starts losing money.
Have you heard that the UK team could only go to the olympic games in China, if they signed (individually) a paper that they will not say anything against the regime? And that said regime has, instead of improving, further cracked down on human rights and democracy activists?
Furthermore.... did you know that the air in most venues is too polluted to hold ANY outdoors competitions, let alone marathons?
So why was China selected, and the other candidates dropped?
Money and power? Naaaahh... never!
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
The First Rule of the Olympics is:
You don't talk about the Olympics.
Without the athletes, the Olympics is nothing.
... ah, yes, I think we know how deep their feelings actually are.
If the athletes actually feel strongly about issues relating to China, then they can choose not to go. Sure, you'll lose out on marketing deals and fame and
Many arguments say the best way to bring China into the modern world is to integrate them despite their flaws, to expose their peoples to alternative viewpoints. If they are correct, then the Olympics will overall be a good thing despite any current issues.
If you just think of it as twice every 4 years it's exactly the same as it was up until they separated the winter and summer games into different years.
no they can't, china are just the host, its the IOC that have the say on that.
What if Tetris was invented by Nazis?
... nobody would start a war over an athlete. Over a political figure possibly. Besides, unless it was a US athlete they wouldn't care anyway.
I shall not be watching - so don't count my eyes when you work out what the TV rights will cost.
The IOC said blogs by athletes 'should take the form of a diary or journal and should not contain any interviews with other competitors at the games.
I see their point. They don't want their athletes using the event to springboard a journalism career. This does involve interfering with their freedom of speech though. What if they want to tell everyone about the games in a more dispassionate way? Why shouldn't they?
They also should not write about other athletes.
Privacy? A bit heavy handed.
Still pictures are allowed as long as they do not show Olympic events.
Seems the IOC has become a corporate enterprise. It used to be all about promoting sports for its own sake. It's a shame that things have gone this way.
Athletes must obtain the consent of their competitors if they wish to photograph them. Also, athletes cannot use their blogs for commercial gain."
Both of these are laudable. The first is about the privacy of the other athletes. The second is about keeping to the amateur spirit of the games.
Really? And how many guns does the IOC have? 'Cause the Chinese government has *lots*.
into irrelevance that is the Olympics and its masters, the IOC. So rife with corruption, so lousy with commercialism, so compromised by professional "amateur" athletes.
Really, the original intention of the Olympics has been completely sand-blasted away. The IOC not allowing the very people who are making the whole pageant possible to talk/blog about what the experience is like? It's the absurd cherry on top of one giant whopping sundae of hypocrisy.
I will probably be shouted down by those who can't wait to wave the patriotic flag of country X at the games, but I say down with the Olympics, down with the IOC, and down with commercialized professional sports, for that matter.
Wake me up if the world ever gets back to sports that are about community and excellence and human achievement. Until then, there are many better things to do.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.