Athletes in Sochi allowed to use Apple devices

The International Olympic Committee is famous for wild stories related to the protection of sponsors' trademarks. For example, at the Olympics in London two years ago a special police force of brands worked : 286 full-time officers led by experts from the IOC. They patrolled the streets of the city and made sure that no one used Olympic symbols without a license. At 40 Olympic stadiums, it was forbidden to sell fast food to more than 800 companies so that they did not create competition for one of the main sponsors of the Olympics - McDonald's Corporation. In London, the IOC even launched an investigation into the fact that some athletes used unlicensed condoms from a third-party company for sex (Durex was the sponsor of the games and provided athletes with 150 thousand free condoms).

Things have not yet reached such atrocities in Sochi, although certain prerequisites exist. The fact is that Samsung is the main sponsor of the games, and Galaxy Note 3 smartphones are given to athletes in the Olympic village. In connection with this, there were rumors that these phones are required to be used, and smartphones of other brands will not be used at the opening ceremony, especially - Apple IOC and Samsung hastened to refute this information.

“That's not true,” saidin a comment for MacRumors, the representative of the International Olympic Committee. - Athletes can use any device during the opening ceremony. The usual rules apply here, as during past games. Samsung Note 3 phones are distributed as gifts and contain important information about competitions and logistics. ”

However, no one canceled the articleThe Olympic Charter, according to which athletes are not allowed to mention any products and trademarks from manufacturers that are not official sponsors of the games during the Olympic Games. The ban applies to the use of social networks Facebook, Twitter, etc., as well as to clothes. For violation of the article, athletes face a fine and disqualification. True, an exception is made for clothes and equipment on which the logo occupies less than 10% of the area. Obviously, Apple products fall into this category.

In any case, the modern Olympic Games are, first of all, big business, and for good reason the International Olympic Committee is accused of putting the interests of sponsors above the interests of athletes.