British Paralympic Swimming Champion Banned

[ChillDoubt]

....because of a tattoo of the Olympic rings he failed to cover:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/36187114

Pathetic.

[Mamyalynne]

Very disappointing, wonder why he didn't follow the rules though?

[ToraToraTora]

no body adverts, the rules are clear.

[ChillDoubt]

But is he advertising? Or taking great pride in his country and achievements he's brought about, thus allowing himself the distinction of being an Olympian and adorning himself with The Rings?

I could understand if he had Sainsbury's emblazoned across his trunks, but who would think of Olympic Rings plc or some such when casting their gaze across his tattoo?
Petty in the extreme IMHO.

[ummmm]

It is petty.

[murraymints]

can Olympic rings be considered advertising ?? not selling anything are they ?

[Baldric]

///The 19-year-old from Jarrow has a motif of the Olympic rings on the left side of his chest, which breaches advertising regulations.
All teams are informed of the advertising policy at a technical meeting prior to competition so it wasn't as if they had not been reminded about the rules.///

Having read the above, I don't see what the problem is tbh.

[THECORBYLOON]

He covered it earlier so he was well aware of the prohibition.

[woofgang]

But the article says that he swam the 400m heats with the tatt covered so he did know what the rules said.....

[jomifl]

Most tattoos could be construed as a form of advertisement for something.

[retrocop]

Couldn't possibly comment on that last post. :-)

[IggyB]

The olympics not selling anything?! Seriously its a billion pound money making machine operated from tax havens in Switzerland. Its just business like any other but most people enjoy their products (the games) but no different than advertising tesco really

[ABerrant]

I hope he got written consent from the IOC to have tattooed upon his torso the protected mark known as the Olympic Rings.

http://registration.olympic.org/en/faq/detail/id/25

For your convenience here is Chapter 1 Rule 7 Clause 4 of the Olympic Charter in full:

'The Olympic symbol, flag, motto, anthem, identifications (including but not limited to “Olympic Games” and “Games of the Olympiad”), designations, emblems, flame and torches, as defined in Rules 8-14 below, and any other musical works, audio-visual works or other creative works or artefacts commissioned in connection with the Olympic Games by the IOC, the NOCs and/or the OCOGs, may, for convenience, be collectively or individually referred to as “Olympic properties". All rights to the Olympic properties, as well as all rights to the use thereof, belong exclusively to the IOC, including but
not limited to the use for any profit-making, commercial or advertising purposes. The IOC may license all or part of its rights on terms and conditions set forth by the IOC Executive Board.'


The IOC is very protective of its properties. They may want their pound of flesh.

https://www.marketingweek.com/2012/07/20/top-olympic-branding-breaches/

[ChillDoubt]

Funny they've not bothered with the likes of all the others swimmers who've done the same, ABErrant. Not heard of Tom Daley being sued nor prosecuted:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=980&bih=613&q=swimmers+olympic+rings+tattoo&oq=swimmers+olympic+rings+tattoo&gs_l=img.3...2231.13097.0.13957.29.17.0.12.1.0.238.1684.12j4j1.17.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.17.1612...0j0i30j0i5i30j0i8i30.4iQZfdOk7K0

[Mamyalynne]

Did the races Tom Daley and others in that Google took part in have the same rules as the one in today's link?


I do agree it's sad but he seemed to know what was to be done.

[ChillDoubt]

He seemed to know Mamya......but I thought they might have cut him a bit of slack, cerebral palsy being what it is. Not saying he deserves special treatment (he's an Olympian after all) but someone somewhere has obviously got very little to do whrn not straightening chairs, bless 'em.

[campbellking]

If you asked the IOC, he's not an Olympian at all, but a Paralympian, as the use of the Olympic rings is not permitted at the Paralympic games (all references to the rings were removed from the London site prior to the Paralympics)