The International Olympic Committee thought athletes competing at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing might want to blog about it. The IOC considers allowing athletes to put up personal journals on the Internet providing they don’t disobey the privileges to the approved media and don’t get paid for it. IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies wants to keep away from a “free-for-all-situation.”
Davies fears athletes revealing all they observe. The IOC press committee decided that athlete’s blogging would not violate Olympic rules if they posted their blogs as a “diary or journal,” didn’t get paid for it, and didn’t use any photos, video, or audio from the games. Former US Olympic volleyball gold medalist Bob Ctvrtlik would like to guard the rights of the sponsors.
“We don’t want the village turned into a reality TV show during the Olympics. We also want to protect rights that have been sold to sponsors. As of yet, we don’t have a clear consensus on it.”
The IOC has guarded controlling the use of the word “Olympic”, or even words that may imply the Olympics, like “summer” and “games.” The IOC has threatened before removing credentials, taking legal action, or financial compensation to provide protection to official Olympic sponsors.
