KEEP YOUR 5-RING THOUGHTS OFF THE INTERNET: The time has apparently come to decide whether an Olympic athlete’s right to blog is more important than professional reportage coming from accredited media.

At the IOC meetings this week in Lausanne, Switzerland, the topic of Olympic bloggers came up, and the board of directors is trying to define its policy, wondering if these web diaries conflict with the protected rights of the accredited media.

A subgroup of the IOC press commission recently concluded that blogging by athletes would not violate Olympic rules. It proposed that athletes be allowed to do it on condition they receive no payment, post their entries as a personal “diary or journal” and do not use photos, video or audio obtained at the games.

Then why bother?

Wasn’t it a reality show, “American Idol,” that killed the Winter Olympics in the ratings last year?

This just in - the first entry of Bode Miller’s official Olympic Blog!
Entry 1: “Damn. I sucked again today. Where’s the beer?”