U.S. athletes stage Twitter protest over ad rules

By Keith Weir

LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) - A group of U.S. athletes protested on Twitter on Sunday over curbs on appearing in commercials during the Olympics in what looked like a concerted challenge to rules designed to protect Games sponsors.

Athletes including Dawn Harper, gold medallist in the 100 metres hurdles in Beijing four years ago, took to the social networking site to call for the restrictions to be relaxed.

"I am honored to be an Olympian but #wedemandchange #rule 40," Harper tweeted, accompanied by a picture of a group of U.S. team mates in a meeting room. Others including triple Olympian Sanya Ross-Richards echoed the message.