The controversial Rule 40 that prohibits athletes from promoting non-official sponsors during the Olympic Games is set to be overhauled. 

 

The International Olympic Committee executive board met today in Rio de Janeiro and approved a change to the much maligned provision, seeking to allow athletes to promote “generic” or “non-Olympic advertising” during the Games. IOC spokesman Mark Adams stated that “athletes have wanted this (rule) changed for a very long time.”

 

An official decision on the proposal has to be made by the full IOC, which will meet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July. The proposed change would go in effect in time for the 2016 Games in Rio.

 

Rule 40 drew an enormous amount of criticism during the London Olympics. U.S athletes Sanya Richards-Ross and Nick Symmonds were particularly vocal against the ban, with Symmonds stating that the rule “very clearly violates the rights of the athletes,” as he told the UK news source The Guardian in 2012.