Olympics: Competitors allowed to blog

Nice to get permission:

Olympic Competitors Receive Permission to Blog Games

The International Olympic Committee has issued blogging guidelines for the Beijing Olympics. This marks the first time competitors and officials have been given the green light to blog — albeit with some restrictions. According to the IOC, the Olympic bloggers’ posts are sanctioned only as a “legitimate form of personal expression” and “not a form of journalism.” If the IOC should choose to leverage it, giving fans easy access to athletes’ blogs would be a great way to pump up pre-Olympic enthusiasm around the world. (from WOMMA)

Wow. Bloging as a “legitimate form of personal expression” and “not a form of journalism.” I wonder if they are capturing the blogs under one blog banner, or if they are free to wander off to blogspot and wordpress and other personal sites? If they do it under a banner, it’s not really a “legitimate form of personal expression” then is it? It’s a “form of marketing”.

So I shall create an Olympic blog post to tell you how my training and preparation for the Olympics are progressing:

• Set the alarm for 5:30am. Realised there was no waaaay I was going to get up that early so changed it to 7:30.
• Slept through alarm and stumbled out of bed at 8:00 – too late for breakfast.
• Put on gym clothes, admired myself in mirror, sat down in front of computer.
  ….
• Realised it’s 6pm, still in gym clothes, have only eaten 2 oranges, cold toast, a Mars Bar and a slice of last nights pizza. However, did switch to Extra gum (sugar free).
• Finished second bottle of wine with Catriona, stumbling into bed just before midnight. Set the alarm for 5:30am…

Stop sniggering: how are YOUR Olympic preps coming along? Anyway, I think having the Olympic competitors blog is a great idea.

Though the phones are every kind of wunnerful, too.