IOC asks Sweden to block Pirate Bay

But much to the IOC’s consternation, the government said the matter would simply be passed on to the police.

“The rights to the opening ceremony cost big money and all forms of pirate copies are forbidden”, according to Gunilla Lindberg, one of the IOC’s four vice-presidents.

Lindberg told the TT news agency that the IOC had written a letter to the Swedish government, “requesting the government to ensure that The Pirate Bay remove the recordings.”

Justice Minister Beatrice Ask (m) told TT news agency that she understood the IOC’s position.

“They want to know what the government can do to help them in this issue. They want to find out about their legal rights in Sweden and how we work to prevent internet piracy,” she said.

However, Ask pointed out that the government could not intervene in an individual case and said it was normal procedure to refer the matter to the police.

But the IOC is not just targeting Sweden. According to Gunilla Lindberg, the IOC has sent out a number of letters to other countries where similar file sharing sites have distributed recordings from the Olympic Games.