Saturday, February 10, 2007
Australian athletes will not do well at next Olympics thanks to blog ban
The Australian Olympic Committee has banned all the country's athletes from blogging whilst at next year's Olympics in Beijing. The BBC reports that the Australian Olympic Committee believes blogging would "erode the sanctity of the Olympic village". What tosh! I know several people who have competed in the Olympics and the words "Olympic village" and "sanctity" don't usually appear in the same sentence. The Olympic village is much more like a university hall of residence, they tell me, with much drinking and bonking going on. To say that blogging would in some way destroy a special place shows how much these sports authorities know about things. It also reveals how little they know about blogging and its psychological position. Almost all of the Olympic athletes from Australia will be young. They will have grown up using Internet communications as standard. They will perceive blogging in a way that is an everyday, normal activity: as normal as conversation to those of us who grew up without such technology. To ban an athlete from blogging would be like telling them they can't speak to anyone. It will certainly have a detrimental psychological effect on Australian athletes. And that will be exploited by atheletes from other countries who will be allowed to blog. Expect Australia to get less medals than they predict.
Labels: blogging, social networking
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Readers' Comments:
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February 11, 2007 12:02 AM 
Jeremy Jacobs said…
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February 13, 2007 8:18 PM Doolols said…
I think it's a ridiculous story. Far from expecting to see the Ozzies do less well at the Olympics, expect to see the AOC recind or modify their dictat before that date. They can't stop their athletes phoning and emailing home. They won't be able to stop an anonymous Olympian contributing to some online source through mobile phone-based emails. You of all people should be able to spot pre-competition hype.
Oh, and it's "... FEWER medals", Graham, not less.
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February 13, 2007 11:55 PM Graham Jones said…
Thanks for your comment doolols (I agree with you) and thanks also for correcting my grammar. Whoops!
Looks like the Aussies have become as PC and "Health & Safety" conscious at the UK.
Pathetic