Re: Clijsters out of Olympics

<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> schreef in bericht
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> (Steve Jaros) wrote:
>
> >
> > I'm no Clijsters fan but the issue seems clear - if the olympic
> > committee
> > insists that she wear *anything* commercially-related that she
doesn't
> > want
> > to wear, they are in the wrong, not her.
>
> It's not simply the BOIC. It's a *contract* they have with Adidas -- 
which
> provides funding for the other top Beligan athletes in sports with
less
> funding to go to the Olympics at all.
>

Actually the BOIC uses the sponsors' money a lot more to support grass
roots amateur sports and to promote sports in general, than to fund
the top athletes. So for those athletes, who get to go to the
Olympics, abiding by the BOIC contracts and requirements is also, if
not primarily, a matter of solidarity. I understand that this goes
against the convictions of those in this group who think that the
rights of the individual top athlete must be absolute and that the
haves have no obligations towards the have-nots, but I happen to
disagree.
 After all, each year there must be hundreds of potential conflicts
between the personal sponsorship deals and those with National Olympic
Committees or Federations. Over 99% of these cases get worked out in a
rational and reasonable way. The fact that this can't be done with the
Clijsters camp leaves a bad taste.
And finally, Fila (through communications manager Howe Burch) let it
be known in the local press today that they respect the Clijsters
decision, that they haven't put any pressure on Kim whatsoever, that
the negotiations were held between her and the BOIC, and that they
[Fila] had not intervened at all nor been in contact with the BOIC.
Urged further they also said that from their point of view the matter
could have been resolved.

This was my last post on the matter.