LONDON, July 30, 2012 - The 27-year-old Jamaican-American
athlete showed her concern about her peers and the situation developed after a
twitter protest posted on the name of the USA Athletics Team taking part in the
London Olympics Games. The situation is dividing between the Olympics rules on
sponsorships and the freedom of using the social media to express athlete’s
views. “We want to be heard and the Olympics Games is the best opportunity we
have”.
THE
PROTEST
The United States athletics team press
conference was mark by the protest the team had made by twitter over curbs on appearing in commercials during
the Olympics Games London 2012. Sanya Richards-Ross, the Jamaican American
track and field who has won the
Olympic gold medal in the 4 x 400 meters relay in Athens 2004 and in Beijing 2008, said: “We want our
voices to be heard and this event is the most appropriate to do it. We do not
want to start a war or to cause trouble but, I think this is unjust”. The
protest was made according to the rule 40 of the Olympic charter, which forbids
athletes from taking part in advertisements other than the ones of the specific
sponsors for the Games. The rules only
protect the 11 international companies, which include among others Coca-Cola,
Visa and McDonalds. “I believe the Olympic reality and its ideal are
different, I have been very fortunate but some
of my peers struggle to get into the sports and to get sponsors, some of them
goes to many difficulties” she added.
A part of the sponsorship disagreement showed in
public by the Athletes USA Team, there is the discussion relating with the
amount of money spend in the Olympic events when the athletes do not get pay
for them to compete. And last but not least, the stop of freedom for the
athletes to express their own views in whichever way they want especially when
using twitter or facebook.
At the end, which one
is the real problem? The rule 40 of the Olympic Charter or
the freedom of expression?
Twitter
Under
the hashtag #WeDemandChange several twitter users has join and post their own
opinions
Riptide Multisports @raceRiptide
NickSymmonds @NickSymmonds
Manteo Mitchell @ManteoMitchell
Lauren Fleshman @laurenfleshman
Lauren Fleshman @laurenfleshman
BrandRepublic @BrandRepublic
Paul Lewis @paullewismoney
Athletes Advisory @AACTrack
THE
COMPETITION
In terms of the competition, Sanya Richards-Ross showed a lot of
confidence for her 400 meters, “this is my cake”. She feels better now and
believes that after having a new doctor all will go fine as they both consider
she was wrongly medicate in the past.
On the other hand Jesse
Williams the High Jumper who was
No 2 in the world, outdoors in 2010 and champion on the Adidas Grand Prix, New York, Diamond League Meeting where he
established a record of 2.36 meters, said he is physically and mentally very
strong and that he is in his 100 percent health. “I am not worry about anything
now. In the past, I was worry about my injury but that was more mental than
physical problem for me. However, since Monaco all was fine”.
For Ashton Eaton, twice medallist at the World Champions, one Gold and
one Silver, a holder of the World Record in both decathlon and heptathlon the
confidence shows all over, “I am confident
about my abilities and my performance has been very good recently”. He believes
his chances are good however, he thinks it is unrealistic to think he will
break another record in London 2012. When asked about the 9000 points again he
said: “Perfection never happens, I don’t know if it will be possible, as an
athlete I always try but it does not happen that often”
