Elaine Thompson-Herah: Instagram blocks gold medallist who shared race win

Olympic gold medallist sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah was mistakenly blocked on Instagram, its owner Facebook Inc has confirmed.

Thompson-Herah, the fastest woman in the world, was blocked on Tuesday for sharing videos from her 100 and 200 metre races on her Instagram account.

Her access to the app was reinstated several hours later.

There are strict copyright restrictions on sharing content from the Games online.

Thompson-Herah said on Twitter that she was blocked from accessing her account because she posted videos that she “did not have the right to do so”.

A spokesperson for Facebook told Reuters news agency that while the content had been removed, the suspension had been wrongly applied.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines mandate that athletes must not post Olympic Games content containing audio and video of the sporting event or medal ceremony.

This is because a set number of broadcasters hold exclusive rights to broadcast the Games. Their rights include distribution on social media.

However athletes “are invited to share the content” posted by these broadcasters on their accounts, the IOC told Reuters.

Any content that breaks these rules is removed immediately. It is not clear where the footage the sprinter posted came from.

For the time period that includes the 2018 Pyeongchang winter Olympics and the Tokyo Games, the IOC is set to receive more than $4bn (£2.8bn) in broadcasting rights. The majority of the money goes back into the Games and supporting sports and athletes.

Thompson-Herah secured an unprecedented 100m – 200m double-double. She recorded 21.53 seconds in the 200m, just 0.19 seconds off Florence Griffith-Joyner’s long-standing world record.

Thompson-Herah is set to compete on Friday in the 4x100m relay final.

Agencies