Os limites da restrição à liberdade de expressão de atletas olímpicos

Abstract

The present work aims to study the limits of restriction on freedom of expression of Olympic athletes. Sport and politics are intrinsically related since the origins of modern sport and throughout the history of the Olympic Games, in which Olympic organizations often showed partiality in their actions and the sporting event was the stage for expressions of thought. But Olympism has political neutrality as one of its fundamental principles. And in the name of that, it prohibits any type of demonstration in highly visible spaces of the Olympic Games. This restriction implies a clear limitation of athletes' freedom of expression, which is a human right recognized by international human rights treaties. So to what extent can Olympic organizations restrict this right, which also represents an inherent quality of the human being? To understand these limits it is important to understand the relationship between Olympic legislation and other legislation that may affect athletes' rights. This analysis reaches a certain level of complexity considering the specificity of the Olympic organizations, as well as their legislation, and their situation as part of a transnational normative conglomerate, the result of a process of transformation of the legal phenomenon by globalization. To carry out this analysis, we studied the specialized literature on the subject and the legislative and jurisprudential sources incidente according to what was investigated, as well as using journalistic digital content from the world of sports. Sportiva, it was possible to trace some reasoning about sources of Olympic Law that could be used in this study. The regulation of the freedom of expression of Olympic athletes has roots both in the Olympic Charter and in international human rights treaties, in the domestic legislation of states and in the jurisprudential understanding of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Hate speech is expressly prohibited by most of the legal sources studied. Freedom of expression, in turn, enjoys broad international protection, relativizing restrictions imposed on Olympic athletes by Rule 50.2 of the Olympic Charter. The feasibility of freedom of expression. for athletes is in line with the Principles and Fundamentals of Olympism and the Olympic Movement must assume that its exercise can generate significant social changes to act so that it can be a tool for promoting peace and social development.