Reshared post from +Mike Elgan
How the Olympic Committee Violates the Fundamental Human Rights of Athletes
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), drunk with greed and power, is forcing athletes to cover tattoos, remove headphones, take of wristwatches and generally stop showing any corporate logo of any company that isn't an Olympic sponsor.
For example, the committee is currently investigating whether it will allow Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake (pictured) to continue to wear his own wristwatch during the games, as the watch maker is not a sponsor.
The IOC required Team USA's track star Nick Symmonds to cover a temporary tattoo on his arm, because it showed the Twitter name of one of his sponsors.
Dr. Dre sent free Beats headphones to some athletes. When a few people on the Great Britain team mentioned it, the IOC "sanctioned" them, and ordered them to wear the headphones provided by official sponsors.
They also sanctioned Australian swimmer Libby Trickett for exercising her right to free speech in a Twitter post, in which she promoted a company sponsoring her.
The IOC justifies this crackdown by citing Rule 40 of the IOC charter.
You like rules and charters? I've got one for you, IOC. It's called Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which specifies that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
Yes, I know athletes agree to your shameless rules, which are designed to extract the maximum amount of money from mostly unpaid athletes. But they suck, and your enforcement of them is ridiculous and extreme.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/olympics-2012-yohan-blake-359931
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