I was waiting on this one because of sourcing issues, but when Gay Star News reports something and the Advocate decides to publicize it, I figure why wait for Reuters or somebody else. The net is that the International Olympic Committee has delved into its charter and come up with an interpretation of it that says that the Olympic Games are
not a place for proactive political or religious demonstration. This rule has been in place for many years and applied when necessary. In any case, the IOC would treat each case individually and take a sensible approach depending on what was said or done.
So most likely any Tommie Smith/John Carlos-type activism would have to be done after an athlete's final event so as not to risk having the IOC send the athlete home, never mind whether Russia arrests the athlete.
Interestingly, the IOC didn't refer to ANY of Russia's homophobic laws when they made the statement. They based it on Article 50 of the Olympic Charter, which reads:
50
Advertising, Demonstrations, Propaganda*
1.
The IOC Executive Board determines the principles and conditions under which any
form of advertising or other publicity may be authorised.
2.
No form of advertising or other publicity shall be allowed in and above the stadia,
venues and other competition areas which are considered as part of the Olympic
sites. Commercial installations and advertising signs shall not be allowed in the stadia,
venues or other sports grounds.
3.
No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in
any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.
The by-laws to this are all about what you can and cannot do to your
uniform. As
Gay Star News observes,
The message is clear, athletes, coaches and others who step out of line – for example by wearing rainbow pins – would not just risk arrest from Russians, but also punishment from the IOC
This really won't take long to say. Russia passes laws to make sure nobody, ESPECIALLY foreigners from the West, says anything positive about gay anything that somebody under 18 could be exposed to, ostensibly to protect the children from decadent Western corruption (all corruption, you understand, came from the West even before Lenin led the Russian revolution). Gay athletes and their supporters, seeing what license this has given Russians, neo-Nazis or otherwise, say a boycott would be a mistake because it would hurt the athletes. That WAS fine until the IOC took this position.
Here's Gay Star News again:
The IOC still supports gays and lesbians being allowed to compete, but won’t let them use the Olympics as a platform to highlight Russia’s anti-LGBT human rights abuses.
It will be a blow for people who argued against a boycott of the games, saying Sochi could be used to champion LGBT issues in Russia.
Olympics President Jacques Rogge last week said the games ‘should be open to all, free of discrimination’ sparking hopes the IOC may review its charter so LGBT people were specifically protected from exclusion.
Currently, only race, religion, politics and gender are included under the charter’s criteria for which discrimination is prohibited.
So now Olympic athletes have a big decision to make, having been undercut by the people who are running the games they so wanted to take part in. I'm guessing Johnny Weir will go and get himself expelled and arrested as a way of publicizing all this, but really. And what happened to Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the Mexico City games, where they were not protesting against any Mexican laws?
From the New York Times, October 16, 1968:
The United States Olympic Committee suspended Tommie Smith and John Carlos today for having used last Wednesday's victory ceremony for the 200-meter dash at the Olympic Games as the vehicle for a black power demonstration. The two Negro sprinters were told by Douglas F. Roby, the president of the committee, that they must leave the Olympic Village. Their credentials were also taken away, which made it mandatory for them to leave Mexico within 48 hours. {snip} In a statement issued early this morning, the United States committee expressed its "profound regrets" to the International Olympic Committee, the Mexican Organizing Committee and the people of Mexico for the "discourtesy displayed" by Smith and Carlos. "The untypical exhibitionism of these athletes violates the basic standards of good manners and sportsmanship, which are so highly valued in the United States," the statement said. "Such immature behavior is an isolated incident" and "a repetition of such incidents by other members of the United States team can only be considered a willful disregard of Olympic principles."
Yep. That was Avery Brundage, the president of the IOC, to whom the USOC was apologizing. Maybe a boycott of Sochi because of the Russian laws isn't a bad idea after all now.