United Kingdom hockey athletes banned from using Twitter – London Olympics 2012
The hockey players of the United Kingdom are a part of the Team GB that will be representing Great Britain in the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games have been banned from making use of the social media website, Twitter.
Not only that, the ban imposed on the Team GB hockey athletes specifically asks them not to use the website for four hours before the start of the Olympic event as well as two hours after its closure. The reason given by the officials of the team is that
the players might be distracted by at the start of the game which would affect their performance. Not only that, the use of Twitter after the end of the game might cause arguments to take place as the athletes would be high on emotions.
Clive Woodward, who is the deputy chef de mission of the Team GB, expressed himself on the matter by giving the following statements, “Some athletes might find it a comfort to tweet while others won't touch it. Cory Jane said it affected him because he was
used to tweeting. It will be up to each sport about how they manage it.”
On the other hand, Tom Daley who is the diving star shared his views about the use of social media websites in the following manner, “Twitter and Facebook is fun and it is my generation. It has never taken up my training or performance time and does nothing
to impact on my performance.”
According to the rules laid down by the International Olympic Committee, the athletes participating in the Olympic Games are given the allowance to make use of Twitter during the time that the London 2012 Olympic Games will remain in progress from July 27
to August 12.
However, despite the fact that the allowance has been made by the IOC, the participating athletes are not allowed to express their views about their personal experience during the Olympic Games and neither are they allowed to pass opinions or comment in
any way on the other participating athletes.
In the event that any athlete is found using Twitter, there is a severe penalty.
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