Swimmers With Corporate Logos At Trials Face Disqualification

By Tripp Mickle, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

Swimmers Sporting Corporate Logos On Caps Could Face Disqualification At U.S. Olympic Trials

Swimmers who wear corporate logos on their swim caps this week during the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha risk disqualification. USA Swimming Head Coach Mark Schubert told swimmers and coaches over the last two weeks that wearing corporate logos on their caps during preliminary events would result in a verbal warning and wearing them during the finals would result in immediate disqualification. The consequences make clear how the USOC and USA Swimming will enforce a memo from April 30 advising all swimmers that the organizations would prevent "commercial identification, except for the standard manufacturers logo" from appearing on equipment during the trials. That rule was not enforced during the trials in '04 when Michael Phelps wore a cap with an Argent Mortgage logo and Gary Hall Jr. wore one with Everlast on it. Based on that precedent, four to six swimmers signed contracts between '04 and '08 giving sponsors the rights to feature logos on their caps at this week's trials. Agent Evan Morgenstein said, "The USOC and USA Swimming have found a way to underfund the athletes -- period." Morgenstein, who represents Amanda Beard, Dara Torres, Cullen Jones and Aaron Peirsol along with several other top swimmers, declined to say which swimmers would be affected by the rule in order to protect those swimmers from undue attention during the event. Many of the swimmers put their college school marks on their caps, which are allowed under the rules.