Maine's first annual "Redneck Olympics" held last weekend in Hebron is being recognized with a lawsuit.
The organizer of the event, which featured games such as the "Mud Run" and "Tire Popping," says he got a phone call yesterday from the United States Olympic Committee telling him to change the name of the event or face a lawsuit, according to the Lewiston Sun Journal.
Harold Brooks says USOC officials told him that the word "Olympics" is the committee's property. But Brooks told the paper he doesn't intend to change the name of the event. He says he based the name on the Olympics in Greece, not the USOC Olympics.
But similar threats from the USOC have prompted other users of the word to back down, the paper reports. In 1982 organizers of the "Gay Olympics" changed the name of the event to the "Gay Games" after being threatened with a lawsuit.