This past week has been more of the same, catching every moment of Olympic action I can. I watched Hannah Kearney win the moguls gold in dramatic fashion, knocking Canadian Jennifer Heil from the top spot and dashing the hopes of a nation (Canada had never won gold in an Olympics hosted on Canadian soil). Then the very next night I watched those hopes come true when Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau won gold in the men's moguls. After missing it live, I stayed up til 5 in the morning to catch the re-airing of Shawn White winning the gold. I've watched with excitement as the US ski team has claimed medal after medal. I've fallen in love with curling, which is now high on my list of things that I'd like to try. Every night brings new excitement in some form or another, perhaps none yet as exciting as the United States men's hockey team beating favored Canada last night. The list goes on and on- and I've barely touched on the never ending supply of great storylines provided by the athlete's stories in all these competitions! As I said- I love the Olympics.
But I'm starting to think I may have to adjust that to say- I love the Olympic competitions. The reason for considering this adjustment I will explain with two current stories. The first is the small controversy surrounding US snowboarder Scotty Lago. The quick summary: Lago finished third behind Shawn White to win the Bronze medal on men's halfpipe. During the ensuing celebrations that evening, a couple of "controversial" photos where snapped. Decide for yourself, but in my opinion- the first is the closest to anything scandalous, and overall nothing to get in an uproar about. A 22 year old caught having a good time celebrating winning an Olympic bronze medal. When informed of these pictures, Lago issued an apology to the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), and according to an United States Olympic Committee spokesman: “Scotty left on his own accord. He wasn’t forced to leave.” Ah but wait- according to two sources close to Lago, the true story is that he left after being presented with the options of leaving quietly or face a formal trial process and risk being formally ejected. And so rather than staying and enjoying the rest of the Olympics with his teammates like he wanted to, he opted to leave as to not endanger his chances of competing in future Olympics. Where his actions captured in the pictures in bad taste- sure. Should he have faced some form of disciplinary action because athletes had been told to be on their best behavior- sure. Should he have been essentially forced out and not allowed to enjoy the rest of his Olympic experience- absolutely not!
Second example: this story I caught from Boing Boing. In a nutshell- on a blog maintained by Swix Sports, a US distributor for equipment maker UVEX, a congratulatory message was posted to Lindsey Vonn, who wears UVEX goggles, after she won downhill gold. In return, they received a message from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stating the post must be removed via some legal mumbo jumbo, which is sort of explained on the blog. Also mentioned on the blog is that they believe messages of congratulations are exempted- but either way I find this completely ridiculous! Why the IOC believes they have the right to take over the rights to names and images of competitors during the Olympics is beyond me! However, the blog's response (which unfortunately has also been taken down) was amazing and should I ever get into snowboarding like I want to- I will look into getting UVEX gear. Here it is...
"Blonde Who Uses Our Stuff Wins Downhill (Last Name Rhymes With "Bonn")
There once was a lawyer from the IOC,
who called us to protect "intellectual property."
"During the Olympics", she said with a sneer
"your site can't use an Olympian's name even if they use your gear."
"No pictures, no video, no blog posts can be used..."
Even if they are old? "No!", she enthused.
While Olympians chase gold the IOC pursues green.
Cough up millions, or your logo cannot be seen . . ."
Ugh! i so agree. The pics of Lago are nothing, and wouldn't be a big deal if people didn't make a big deal about them. I didn't see the pics or hear about the pics until people started talking about how scandalous they are. He's not the one "mis-behaving" and you can't control what other people do or what pics they snap. Besides let people freakin celebrate a little.
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