British athletes will be banned from competing in this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing if they criticise China's totalitarian regime.

 

The gagging order has been imposed by the British Olympic Association. Competitors who break the rule will not travel to the games or, if they are already in China, will be put on the next plane home.

 

It means sportsmen and women will be unable to raise concerns about China's human rights record or its occupation of Tibet.

 

Critics accused the BOA of bowing to political pressure and said the move raised the spectre of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which passed off without protest and were hailed as a propaganda coup for the Nazi regime.

 

Since the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, British competitors have been asked to sign contracts including a pledge "not to comment on any politically sensitive issues".

However, this year's contracts will, for the first time, explicitly refer competitors to Section 51 of the International Olympic Committee charter, which "provides for no kind of demonstration, or political, religious or racial propaganda in the Olympic sites, venues or other areas".

 

The BOA denied suppressing athletes' comments. But a spokesman said it would be wrong for athletes to use the Games as a soap box.

 

"Clearly what we are not trying to do is suppress comment or debate from our athletes. If an individual is asked a direct question and makes a response that's fine."

The clause was designed to prevent organised protests like those at the 1968 games in Mexico City, he said.

 

But the BOA's decision is in contrast to other countries, including the United States and Australia, where athletes will be free to speak out about China should they wish to do so.

 

The Prince of Wales will not attend the Beijing games because of concerns over human rights.

 

Simon Clegg, the BOA chief executive, said: "There are all sorts of organisations who would like athletes to use the Olympic Games as a vehicle to publicise their causes. I don't believe that is in the interest of the team performance. We are ambassadors of the country and we have to conform to an appropriate code of conduct.

 

"There is a requirement on team members to sign the agreement. If athletes step out of line, action will be taken."

 

Graham Newsom, the BOA spokesman, said: "We're not trying to gag athletes. If an athlete gets asked a direct question they will be allowed to answer that question, but there is a difference between giving an honest answer to actually going out to make a specific political point."

 

However, Amnesty International campaigns director Tim Hancock said British athletes should be allowed to freely express their opinions without the risk of being expelled from the Olympics team.

 

"It's up to each individual to decide what they think and what they say about China's human rights record and that goes for athletes too.

 

"What is disappointing is the suppression of such legitimate views by the British Olympic Association. The Olympics were founded on the principle of human dignity and the respect for ethical principles.

 

"In the spirit of human dignity, British athletes should be allowed to freely express their opinions without the risk or threat that they will be expelled from the Beijing 2008 Olympics team."

 

Source : Sunday Telegraph

 

Where's Jesse Owens when you need him?

Bloody outrageous... But so typical of this country's attempt to totally kiss the arse of the Chinese regime at the expense of free speech... I still remember what happened when Jiang Zemin came over for a "state visit" to this country, totally DEMOCRATIC, FREE protests and demos against the Chinese leader were suppressed by the police under direct orders from Whitehall.... <_< This seems to me to just be an extension of this.. I have no doubt that the BOA is acting under orders from No10..... <_< Christ, we'd might as well be bloody living in China....

Spielberg in Darfur snub to China

 

US film director Steven Spielberg has withdrawn as an artistic adviser for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

 

In a statement, he accused China of not doing enough to pressure Sudan to end the "continuing human suffering" in the troubled western Darfur region. Beijing has not yet responded to the move, which correspondents say is its first big setback in staging the Games.

 

A source in the Beijing Olympic Committee said a response was being discussed at the highest levels but had not yet been made public.

 

But the BBC's James Reynolds in Beijing says the decision will anger and worry the authorities there.

 

Since Beijing won the right to host the Games it has always tried to keep China's politics and China's Olympics separate, he says, and it has attacked anyone who has tried to link the two.

 

See article here : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7242016.stm

 

Will this have any impact on this years games?

.

 

Since Beijing won the right to host the Games it has always tried to keep China's politics and China's Olympics separate, he says, and it has attacked anyone who has tried to link the two.

 

I bet that's what they wish, but it's impossible to separate them though...It's impossible to accept the "happy face" or the PR propaganda that the Chinese Govt will attempt to put on these games when we ALL know the realities that exist within that country. The fact that the Chinese Govt is clearly putting pressure upon our own Govt and the BOA to censure the opinions and views of British athletes is just making these games all the harder to accept... I for one will NOT be watching this utter travesty of a "sporting event".... -_-

 

TBH, I dunno why on earth Spielberg even agreed to be an 'artisitic adviser', one would've thought his libertarian ideals would be at odds with the Chinese Govt's ideologies...

While I find the chinese regime vile to the extreme athletes are there to run and to throw things they are not politicians it is not their place to interfere in politics so while I detest the chinese regime it is up to politicians to criticise it not athletes

Athletes can have just as strong political ideals as full time politicians so I don't think that's fair. Of course be wary of mixing them, eh "Lord" Coe.

 

Even if I were the fastest man in the world I wouldn't go if I felt strongly.

While I find the chinese regime vile to the extreme athletes are there to run and to throw things they are not politicians it is not their place to interfere in politics so while I detest the chinese regime it is up to politicians to criticise it not athletes

 

Oh come on Craig, you cant possibly expect olympic athletes just to check their feelings, thoughts and opinions in at the door, for the most part our athletes are intelligent, aware, socially conscious and humanitarian, they constantly take part in charity events and things like World Aids Day, Breast Cancer Awareness, etc, certainly to a greater degree than most other sports stars do... And I thought you of all people would be highly dubious about where this particular dictat is coming from.... There's something positively Stalinesque and Orwellian about the whole thing.. Athletes being censured and banned merely for having a fukkin' OPINION???? Surprised they're not being threatened with being sent to the fukkin' GULAGS...... <_<

Oh come on Craig, you cant possibly expect olympic athletes just to check their feelings, thoughts and opinions in at the door, for the most part our athletes are intelligent, aware, socially conscious and humanitarian, they constantly take part in charity events and things like World Aids Day, Breast Cancer Awareness, etc, certainly to a greater degree than most other sports stars do... And I thought you of all people would be highly dubious about where this particular dictat is coming from.... There's something positively Stalinesque and Orwellian about the whole thing.. Athletes being censured and banned merely for having a fukkin' OPINION???? Surprised they're not being threatened with being sent to the fukkin' GULAGS...... <_<

 

I was against the olympics going to China in the first place and even wrote to my MP expressing my disgust at the decision to award it to Beijing, I am old enough to remember the events of Tiannamen Square unfolding and that was one of the most disgusting things I ever remember witnessing, add to that other human rights abuses, the threatening of Taiwan and Tibet and their treatment of animals I find China regime one of the vilest nations on the planet but much as I was disgusted by the decision of the games to go to China I think now that the decision as been made that it should be remembered for its athletics and as a sporting spectacle, making a political circus of the whole thing will be unfair to athletes who have trained for years to go to the games and so on so now that the decision has been made I think nothing should distract from making the games a success for the athletes and having the games remembered for world records and not political statements

 

I agree with what you have said

Edited February 15, 200817 yr by Vic Vega

I think now that the decision as been made that it should be remembered for its athletics and as a sporting spectacle, making a political circus of the whole thing

 

...Which I'm sure the Chinese Govt wont do at all.... Oh no..... :rolleyes: Sorry mate... But I am going to find it incredibly hard to stomach the sort of lying, bullsh!t propaganda that the Chinese Govt will almost certainly try to spin in order to paint themselves in a positive light.... There's already an open hostility on the part of the Chinese Govt to any and all sorts of criticism of the regime, and I reckon the BOA and our own Govt is receiving its dictats and orders directly from Beijing on this issue... If I was an athlete, I'd refuse to go along with this circus and speak out in the media exactly why I'm against it....

 

 

I think now that the decision as been made that it should be remembered for its athletics and as a sporting spectacle, making a political circus of the whole thing

 

...Which I'm sure the Chinese Govt wont do at all.... Oh no..... :rolleyes: Sorry mate... But I am going to find it incredibly hard to stomach the sort of lying, bullsh!t propaganda that the Chinese Govt will almost certainly try to spin in order to paint themselves in a positive light.... There's already an open hostility on the part of the Chinese Govt to any and all sorts of criticism of the regime, and I reckon the BOA and our own Govt is receiving its dictats and orders directly from Beijing on this issue... If I was an athlete, I'd refuse to go along with this circus and speak out in the media exactly why I'm against it....

 

The very act of putting a "gagging order" on British athletes politicises the whole thing surely....