US officials play down politics at Beijing Games
Team chief Rick Adams says 80% of US athletes will take part in the opening ceremony. (AP pic)
BEIJING: US Olympic team officials said today they hoped to keep the burden of politics off their athletes at the Beijing Games after months of outcry over China’s human rights record.
The US was one of several countries to announce a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics, declining to send government officials to the Games citing China’s treatment of Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups.
China denies allegations of human rights abuses.
US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) chair Sarah Lyons said she wanted to leave the politics to the politicians.
“We were very close to having the athletes bear the burden of trying to send a message that the government wanted to send,” Lyons told reporters at a news conference hours before the opening ceremony at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.
“We think that diplomats and government agencies should be working one with the other to resolve the world’s differences and we think the athletes should be able to do what they do best.”
About 80% of the US athletes in Beijing will take part in the opening ceremony, team chief Rick Adams said.
A report in the Washington Post yesterday said US-based human rights activists had been working with athletes from several western countries on a boycott of the ceremony.
“In terms of opening ceremony, it may even be a record, we have 80% of our athletes walking tonight,” Adams told the news conference.
Attendance at the opening ceremony is not compulsory for athletes, who often skip it for a variety of reasons including a desire to rest or avoid the cold at the outdoor event.
Individual events kicked off this week in Beijing after dire warnings from US officials, including House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi who yesterday urged US athletes not to risk angering the “ruthless” Chinese government.
USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland told today’s news conference that US athletes were not given edicts on what they were allowed to say before, during and after competition.
“We didn’t issue warnings, we didn’t issue proclamations,” said Hirshland.
“(We have) provided information so that athletes are in a position to make a choice and to understand the environment that they are going to be in and who our host is and, frankly, we’ve done that for several Games.”
BEIJING: US Olympic team officials said today they hoped to keep the burden of politics off their athletes at the Beijing Games after months of outcry over China’s human rights record.
The US was one of several countries to announce a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics, declining to send government officials to the Games citing China’s treatment of Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups.
China denies allegations of human rights abuses.
US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) chair Sarah Lyons said she wanted to leave the politics to the politicians.
“We were very close to having the athletes bear the burden of trying to send a message that the government wanted to send,” Lyons told reporters at a news conference hours before the opening ceremony at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.
“We think that diplomats and government agencies should be working one with the other to resolve the world’s differences and we think the athletes should be able to do what they do best.”
About 80% of the US athletes in Beijing will take part in the opening ceremony, team chief Rick Adams said.
A report in the Washington Post yesterday said US-based human rights activists had been working with athletes from several western countries on a boycott of the ceremony.
“In terms of opening ceremony, it may even be a record, we have 80% of our athletes walking tonight,” Adams told the news conference.
Attendance at the opening ceremony is not compulsory for athletes, who often skip it for a variety of reasons including a desire to rest or avoid the cold at the outdoor event.
Individual events kicked off this week in Beijing after dire warnings from US officials, including House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi who yesterday urged US athletes not to risk angering the “ruthless” Chinese government.
USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland told today’s news conference that US athletes were not given edicts on what they were allowed to say before, during and after competition.
“We didn’t issue warnings, we didn’t issue proclamations,” said Hirshland.
“(We have) provided information so that athletes are in a position to make a choice and to understand the environment that they are going to be in and who our host is and, frankly, we’ve done that for several Games.”
The China Communist Party under Xi JinPing ruthlessly suppresses dissent.
ReplyDeleteAGAIN, as in yr wettest dream!
DeleteDON'T wake up. Otherwise the true reality will crash u like nothing!
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/feb/01/spectre-of-1936-and-1980-haunts-beijing-2022-as-fear-and-repression-breed-silence-winter-olympics
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian Paper - hardly a Washington fan - draws parallels between the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the 1936 Nazi Germany propaganda display - both repressive regimes.
“We didn’t issue warnings, we didn’t issue proclamations,” said Hirshland.
ReplyDeleteWakakakakaka…
Is this bitch born before the 1968¿
During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner".
What happened to both of them?
"US athletes were not given edicts on what they were allowed to say before, during and after competition"
BCOZ there were already dire precedences for them US athletes to remind themselves of the consequences!
Ruthless is evil. Liar is not much better, like all the lies of repression and genocide concorded on Xinjiang to smear China. Hypocrisy is another level up like US warning Russia not to camp its army near the Ukraine border but US themselves instigated the whole world to sail all their warships near to China coast and even carry out battle exercises instead of training in their own backyard. But worst is stupidity not able to discern right from wrong and believing in faked news and concorded lies like Xinjiang repression and genocide. Wakakakaka .........
ReplyDelete