The IOC has bowed to the inevitable and said that athletes can blog --within limits-- from the Games this summer:

Athletes have long demanded they be allowed to write their blogs -- online journals of personal opinion or reflection -- during the Games. But the IOC was concerned those blogs could potentially infringe on copyright agreements and private information.

In a series of guidelines, the IOC said blogging would be allowed during the Beijing 2008 Olympics as long as individuals writing the journals keep within the IOC format.

"The IOC considers blogging ... as a legitimate form of personal expression and not a form of journalism," the IOC said.

"It is required that, when accredited persons at the Games post any Olympic content, it be confined solely to their own personal Olympic-related experience," it said.

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Blogs should also adhere to the Olympic spirit "and be dignified and in good taste."

That'll be a lot of blogs to police, and one person's "personal opinion or reflection" is another's political agitprop. It will be interesting to see if this becomes a route to expression for athletes who have something controversial to say but don't relish the idea of a 1968-style from-the-podium hellraiser.