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Tweet at your own risk during Olympics
Australian athletes have been warned against using Twitter during competition after officials found competitors tweeting during last week's Olympic diving test event in London.
Australian athletes have been warned against using Twitter during competition after officials found competitors tweeting during last week's Olympic diving test event in London.
Mike Tancred, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) director of media and communications, fears athletes tweeting during competition will be distracted.
Coaches and team managers needed to implement rules to eliminate the risk of social media undermining performances at this year's Games, he said, but there would be no blanket ban.
"The problem was highlighted at the diving test event in London where athletes were tweeting during the competition," Tancred said in AOC's London Olympics newsletter emailed this week.
"Diving officials stopped the use of social media during the competition, which was also a World Cup event, once they learned it was happening."
According to the AOC, one diver's tweet during competition read: "I'm a novice. I will stop tweeting next round. Distraction!"
Tancred said some sports in Australia, such as cycling, had specific policies about the use of social media during training and competition.
