Several U.S. athletes are protesting the strict rules that limit what they can post on social media sites during the Olympics. They're using twitter to speak up about it, using the hashtags #Rule40 and #WeDemandChange.
The International Olympics Committee’s "Rule 40" prevents athletes from promoting brands other than the official Olympic sponsors during the days before and during the Games. The rules aim to protects the Games’ official sponsors, who paid big bucks for exclusive deals. But some athletes say the new guidelines could hurt their ability to fund their Olympic careers and training.
Adam Nelson is Vice President of the Track and Field Athletes Association in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Comments [3]
One day there will be a competition during the Olympics which combines sport and twittering. It is inevitable.
The athletes and the sponsors that help those athletes get to this position are getting the shaft in this arrangement. Without the athletes those sponsoring the games would have nothing to show, so this advertising restriction should be limited only to the actual media channels broadcasting the events (youtube, NBC...)
Perhaps the athletes can make sure their parents and supporters in the crowd are wearing apparel to support their sponsors, and even holding up banners to attempt to give something back right now. As far as restricting what these folks can tweet about, that is just amazingly ridiculous. I hope that every athlete tweets like crazy the second they have their last possible medal in hand.
Celest's error in her comments was that Pepsi in their sponsorship is not supporting athletes directly, they are supporting the Olympic hosts - London and their organizers. Monies flowing to the IOC or the USOC is also going to general funding, it still rarely/never pays for an athelete's plane ticket. Yes,the USOC offers training opportunities but in most cases they still come at a cost to the athletes.
In most cases the athletes themselves have to come up with their own funding for everything it takes to get to the Olympics. Its the individual teams (swim, ski, track etc) that offer support to athletes once they reach a certain level.
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