Wednesday, February 19, 2014

IOC bans Ukraine's athletes from wearing black armbands at Sochi

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/19/ioc-bans-ukraine-black-armbands-sochi-olympics

The International Olympic Committee has banned Ukrainian competitors at the Sochi winter Games from wearing black armbands to commemorate the deaths of protesters and police in Kiev.

The country's Olympic association said in a statement that it had asked the IOC if its competitors could mark the "deep pain over the loss of fellow countrymen" by wearing black armbands. "The answer was received from the IOC that in accordance with the Olympic charter it is not possible to do this."

Sponsor logos are everywhere at the Olympics, but the IOC regularly bans anything it deems to be political.