Olympic Notes: Twitter Shuts Down Hijackers' Handle That Stole Games Logo

The GUARDIAN’s Shiv Malik reports Twitter has “cracked down over online infringement of the Olympic logo" after LOCOG "complained that an activist group had used the trademark 2012 image to parody the London sporting festival.” A week after Space Hijackers “set themselves up as the ‘official protesters of the London 2012 Olympic Games,’ Twitter suspended the account without warning, saying the satirists' use of the logo as a Twitter picture was an abuse of its rules as it meant they could be ‘confused’ with an actual Olympic sponsor” (GUARDIAN, 5/24). In London, Emma Barnett noted the Space Hijackers’ account has “adopted a new Twitter avatar and wallpaper design -- featuring a doctored version of the official logo of the London Olympics” (TELEGRAPH.co.uk, 5/23).

A MERGER ON THE HORIZON? Int'l Paralympic Committee President Sir Philip Craven said that the Paralympics and Olympics “could merge.” Craven said that things are "developing all the time and nothing is 'set in stone.'" The BBC’s Damon Rose wrote the merger would be “a controversial move with some Paralympic athletes fearful that disability sporting events would be overshadowed.” But a BBC survey found that a joint Games “has some popular appeal.” Craven said, "It's really a logistical problem at the moment but I'm not dead against the idea, in principle, of them coming together at some time." He added, "It could not be before, I don't know, 2024, something like that, for the summer Games" (BBC.co.uk, 5/23).

LANE CHANGE: London Council Transport Committee Chair Catherine West said that Olympic sponsors “should be banned from using the specially designated Games Lanes.” West said that commercial partners “should use public transport instead.” In London, David Millward noted, “30 miles of road within London will contain a Games Lane, which have been created to ensure competitors and officials reach events in time.” The lanes were created “to avoid the chaos which beset the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, where competitors [struggled] to reach events on time after being stuck in heavy traffic” (TELEGRAPH.co.uk, 5/23).