AFP reports that top International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials are furious at what they see as U.S. President George Bush’s hijacking of the Olympic name for his re-election campaign.
Although he tried to play down the controversy on Tuesday, IOC marketing head Gerhard Heiberg said simply that they would like the ads running on MSNBC, CNBC and other NBC cable networks during their Olympic programming, to stop.
He said, “we are following what is happening and hope the campaign will stop. The United States Olympic Committee is dealing with the matter. We own the rights to the Olympic name and no one has asked our permission”.
The ads use words and images to invoke the Athens Games. In a clear reference to Afghanistan and Iraq one ad says, “this Olympics….there will be two more free nations”. After seeing the ad Heiberg said, “we would like to see it changed a little”.
Other IOC officials are not as diplomatic. They call the U.S. administration arrogant. One senior IOC member is reported as saying “to hijack the Olympics name… it is difficult to put into words”.
There was further anger in Athens when there were suggestions that President Bush would come to the Games if Iraq had won their semi-final soccer match against Paraguay, which they lost on Tuesday.
It was seen by many IOC members as another move by Bush to exploit the Olympics in his campaign against Democrat John Kerry.
According to reports Heiberg admitted he was uncomfortable at the Olympic brand being used by politicians. He said, “this is not good. We do not want this to happen. We are politically neutral”.
New York is one of five cities bidding for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
The IOC has a special team of commercial investigators to stop anyone worldwide using the five rings – one of the most recognized symbols in the world.
The IOC and the U.S. Olympic Committee have in the past taken action against anyone using the word Olympics.
