I so happy you love me, because I always took good care of your father.
Posted on 02/10/2008 9:52:20 AM PST by mojito
British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China's appalling human rights record – or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.
The move – which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 – immediately provoked a storm of protest.
The controversial clause has been inserted into athletes' contracts for the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympic Games.
It is contained in a 32-page document that will be presented to all those who reach the qualifying standard and are chosen for the team.
From the moment they sign up, the competitors – likely to include the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips and world record holder Paula Radcliffe – will be effectively gagged from commenting on China's politics, human rights abuses or illegal occupation of Tibet.
Prince Charles has already let it be known that he will not be going to China, even if he is invited by Games organisers.
His views on the Communist dictatorship are well known, after this newspaper revealed how he described China's leaders as “appalling old waxworks” in a journal written after he attended the handover of Hong Kong. The Prince is also a long-time supporter of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader.
Yesterday the British Olympic Association (BOA) confirmed to The Mail on Sunday that any athlete who refuses to sign the agreements will not be allowed to travel to Beijing.
Should a competitor agree to the clause but then speak their mind about China, they will be put on the next plane home.
The clause, in section 4 of the contract, simply states: “[Athletes] are not to comment on any politically sensitive issues.”
It then refers 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 took the decision even though other countries – including the United States, Canada, Finland, and Australia – have pledged that their athletes would be free to speak about any issue concerning China.
To date, only New Zealand and Belgium have banned their athletes from giving political opinions while competing at the Games.
Simon Clegg, the BOA's 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.
“As a team we are ambassadors of the country and we have to conform to an appropriate code of conduct.”
However, human rights campaigner Lord David Alton condemned the move as “making a mockery” of the right to free speech.
The controversial decision to award the Olympics to Beijing means this year's Games have the potential to be the most politically charged since 1936.
Adolf Hitler used the Munich Games that year to glorify his Nazi regime, although his claims of Aryan superiority were undermined by black American athlete Jesse Owens winning four gold medals.
More recently, there was a mass boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
But Colin Moynihan – now BOA chairman Lord Moynihan – defied Margaret Thatcher's calls for British athletes to stay at home and won a silver medal as cox of the men's eight rowing team.
Former Olympic rowing champion Matthew Pinsent has already criticised the Chinese authorities over the training methods used on children, which he regarded as tantamount to abuse.
Young gymnasts told him they were repeatedly beaten during training sessions.
Mr Clegg confirmed that such criticisms would be banned under the team's code of conduct, which will be in force from when athletes are selected in July, until the end of the Games on August 24.
Mr Clegg said: “During the period of the contract, that sort of action would be in dispute with the team-member agreement.
“There are all sorts of sanctions that I can apply. I had to send a team member home in Sydney because they breached our sponsorship agreement and that is the first time it happened.
“I have to act in the interest of the whole British team, not one individual. No athlete is above being part of the team.
“There is a requirement on team members to sign the agreement. If athletes step out of line, action will have to be taken.”
Darren Campbell, Olympic relay gold winner at the 2004 Games in Athens, said the BOA's move would “heap extra pressure on athletes”. But he added: “We are there to represent our country in sporting terms, just as our Army do when they go off to war. It is not supposed to be about politics.”
The BOA is taking a far more stringent stance than authorities in other countries. Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said: “What we will be saying to the athletes is that it's best to concentrate on your competitions.
“But they're entitled to have their opinions and express them. They're free to speak.”
Jouko Purontakanen, secretary general of the Finnish Olympic Committee, said: “We will not be issuing instructions on the matter. The freedom of expression is a basic right that cannot be limited.
“But the starting point is that we will go to Beijing to compete, not to talk politics.”
Political gestures have been made at previous Olympics, most famously in Mexico City in 1968 when black American 200m champion Tommie Smith and bronze medallist John Carlos raised their fists in a black power salute.
Both were suspended from the US Olympic team and barred from the Olympic village.
Forty years on, British athletes face similar sanctions if they highlight the abuse of human rights in China.
Last night Edward McMillan-Scott, Conservative MEP and the European Parliament vice-president, predicted a public outcry over the BOA's move.
He said: “Foreign Secretary David Miliband is off to China soon. But before he gets on the plane, he and the rest of the Government should tell the BOA to take this clause out of the agreement.”
Potentially the contract means that a British athlete who witnesses someone being mistreated on the way to a stadium is forbidden from even speaking to their colleagues about it.
Competitors emailing home or writing blogs will also have to exercise self-censorship – or face having their Olympic dreams ruined.
Lord Alton said: “It is extraordinary to bar athletes from expressing an opinion about China's human-rights record. About the only justification for participating in the Beijing Games is that it offers an opportunity to encourage more awareness about human rights.
“Imposing compulsory vows of silence is an affront to our athletes, and in China it will be viewed as acquiescence.
“Each year 8,000 executions take place in China, political and religious opinion is repressed, journalists are jailed and the internet and overseas broadcasts are heavily censored.
“For our athletes to be told that they may not make any comment makes a mockery of our own country's belief in free speech.”
Oh Heavens yes! what the f**k is an heir to the throne thinking by speaking out against China??
Next thing that will happen is politicians all over the world might actually start talking about some cruddy old communist country in negative terms, and we certainly can’t have that happening!!
Chirac was right:
Your prince missed an excellent opportunity to keep his mouth shut!! SHEEZ!
So you are saying that there aren’t any ball-less Brits any where in Britain? That the Brit Olympic Committee members aren’t ball-less? How about the Archbishop of Canterbury? LOL!
All I will say on the issue of the presidential elections is that from what I’ve seen, McCain Oven-Chips is my prefered candidate. He’s a conservative but not an ideologue. That’s the way I like them....
Of course there's ball-less Britians, but there's more ball-less Americans in California and New York than the British ever dreamed of. And the worst part is that our ball-less wonders have more money than the fewer ball-less Brits do. BTW, how many times did you see Breakback Mountain?
As for the A of C, old fuzzy is just the lastest disaster for the Church of England. I much prefer to read the writings of C.S. Lewis, the Oxford Don, LOL!
Where did you get the idea the Chinese have the Second Largest Navy in the World? The Second Largest Navy is either the Royal Navy (in terms of total gross tonnage) or the Marine Nationale (In terms of total number of warships).
The People’s Liberation Army Navy is certainly nowhere near as powerful as either the French or British Navy as they have virtually no power projection capability (thanks to their lack of aircraft carriers and notoriously noisy submarines), and are technologically inferior.
I’d even rate the Spanish and Italian Navies higher than I would the Chinese...
Where did you get the idea the Chinese have the Second Largest Navy in the World? The Second Largest Navy is either the Royal Navy (in terms of total gross tonnage) or the Marine Nationale (In terms of total number of warships).
The People’s Liberation Army Navy is certainly nowhere near as powerful as either the French or British Navy as they have virtually no power projection capability (thanks to their lack of aircraft carriers and notoriously noisy submarines), and are technologically inferior.
I’d even rate the Spanish and Italian Navies higher than I would the Chinese...
This is strange. Isn’t it the muslims the brits usually grovel to?
I don't know about the Brits, but we sure grovel to the Mexicans. BTW, if you can't speak Spanglish, you better learn to speak it while you're groveling.
Actually, this IS a thread made for hijacking. How's the weather where you are, and was your sister ever bitten by a moose (Holy Grail, Monty Python)?:D
You can grovel all you wish. I won’t. I won’t accept Sharia law like the archbishop, either. Getting pretty nasty about your limey-worship, aren’t you? Are you as thin-skinned as those inbred royals?
It's all my fault. I was wrong and you were right. Feel better?
LOL, I bet you have to say that a lot!
I say it to whiners like you to shut you up. It’s just easier than arguing with an idiot.
So when will you shut up?:D
You want to go to a foreign country to play sports - then play sports and leave the politics to the politicians.
You don't go as a guest to someone's house and complain about how they are raising their kids - tempting as that might be at times.
BTW there are several in this forum who just love to knock the Brits - whatever the subject.
Natives like me learn to ignore them...LOL!
I love people like you who think having the last word is worth looking like a total ass. :>)
Just be thankful you're not French. In the Chirac years there were some all time winner threads, including discussions about their enormously expensive 'Charles de Gaulle', the world's biggest lemon of an aircraft carrier. And the U.N debates - well, the least said the easiest mended. Sarko's in charge now, and at least he seems to like us a little bit, which is a rare change.:)
I so happy you love me, because I always took good care of your father.
Oh, by the way my degree is in European History. They may have had a glorious history, but their progeny are whining, miserable nitwits, and totally useless to anyone including themselves.
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