Athletes in Sochi allowed to use Apple devices

The International Olympic Committee is famous for its wild stories related to the protection of trademark sponsors. For example, at the Olympics in London two years ago, special brand police worked: 286 full-time officers under the guidance of experts from the IOC. They patrolled the streets of the city and checked that no one used Olympic symbols without a license. At 40 Olympic stadiums, they have banned the sale of fast food to more than 800 companies, so that they do not create competition to one of the main sponsors of the Olympics, McDonald's Corporation. In London, the IOC even began an investigation into the fact that some athletes for sex used unlicensed condoms from a third-party company (Durex sponsored the games and provided the athletes with 150,000 free condoms).

It has not yet come to such atrocities in Sochi, although there are certain prerequisites. The fact is that the general sponsor of the games is Samsung, and the athletes in the Olympic Village are presented with Galaxy Note 3 smartphones. In connection with this, there were rumors that these phones are mandatory, and other brands will not be used at the opening ceremony, especially Apple The IOC and Samsung were quick to refute this information.

"This is not true, " a representative of the International Olympic Committee said in a comment for MacRumors. - Athletes can use any device during the opening ceremony. There are the usual rules, as in past games. Samsung Note 3 phones are distributed as gifts and contain important information about competitions and logistics. ”

However, no one has canceled the article of the Olympic Charter, according to which athletes during the Olympic Games are prohibited to mention any products and trademarks from manufacturers who are not official sponsors of the games. The ban applies to the use of social networks Facebook, Twitter, etc., as well as clothing. For violation of the article athletes face fines and disqualification. True, an exception is made for clothing and equipment where the logo occupies less than 10% of the area. Obviously, Apple products fall well into this category.
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In any case, the modern Olympics is, first of all, big business, and for good reason the International Olympic Committee is accused of putting interests of sponsors above the interests of athletes.