I doubt that many people have ever read the Olympic charter but there is one rule that might have a greater significance at the Beijing Olympics.

It states:

No form of publicity or propaganda, commercial or otherwise, may appear on persons, on sportswear, accessories or, more generally, on any article of clothing or equipment whatsoever worn or used by the athletes or other participants in the Olympic Games, except for the identification . as defined in paragraph 8 below . of the manufacturer of the article or equipment concerned, provided that such identification shall not be marked conspicuously for advertising purposes.

Some athletes have proposed ideas of wearing badges on their uniforms or a particular color as a form of silent protest. As to what happens to athletes who break the rule however is still unclear. An example of what might happen to athletes who stage podium protests took place at the 1968 Olympics.

At the 1968 Olympics U.S. athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos staged a protest on the podium by wearing black gloves, raised their fists in the air and bowed their heads during the playing of the United States National Anthem. They didn’t wear shoes on the podium to represent black poverty. Tommie Smith wore a black scarf to represent black pride and John Carlos wore beads which he described “were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed that no-one said a prayer for.”

The pair were suspended from the U.S. Olympic team and expelled from the Olympic village. The story of Peter Norman from Australia who won a silver medal is also an interesting one. He also wore a badge to show his support of the two athletes. He was ostracized by the Australian media on his return and failed to be picked at the 1972 Olympics, even though he recorded qualifying times. He later contracted gangrene and his leg was amputated. Depression and heavy drinking followed before his death in 2006. Smith and Carlos were pallbearers at his funeral.

Read more on the Wikipedia entry: 1968 Olympics Black Power salute