U.S. athletes have chance to speak up about Beijing Olympics

From Monday through Wednesday, most of the country’s leading Olympic athletes will be in Chicago for the U.S. Olympic Committee’s media summit, a form of one-stop shopping for media with the likes of swimmer Michael Phelps and sprinter Allyson Felix and gymnast Shawn Johnson and soccer player Abby Wambach to prepare stories leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Given the events of the past month, from the Chinese government’s brutal repression of unrest in Tibet to the passionate protests surrounding the Olympic torch relay, it is certain the athletes will face questions about going to compete in a country where basic human rights are widely ignored.

There also may be questions about the world’s condemnation of the U.S. war in Iraq and the U.S. treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge emphasized last week that athletes should feel free to speak, as long as they did not violate the provision in the Olympic Charter banning propaganda and demonstrations in Olympic venues – and should feel equally free to decline comment.

A blanket demurral at the media summit, however, would indicate the USOC had pressured the athletes to be silent, despite an official position mirroring Rogge’s.

Athletes uncomfortable about addressing sensitive issues should not feel compelled to do so. Athletes also should not feel compelled to check their consciences with their baggage on the way to Beijing.

The U.S. should send a team to China. Their presence – indeed, the very presence of the Olympics in China – already is exposing the Chinese government to the most intense worldwide criticism it has faced since the Cultural Revolution.

How should the U.S. athletes handle their role? Could one or two have the courage of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, when they protested racism by each raising a gloved fist on the podium?

Would some be willing to wear badges that say, “For a better world,” as some French athletes did when the torch passed through Paris last Monday?

Will all follow USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth’s urging to remember they are guests in China and be afraid of offending the host?

They can consider the reactions of 30 leading French athletes whom the magazine, L’Equipe, asked to express themselves while posing with pictures of dissidents China has arrested or imprisoned.

Twelve agreed. Here are some extracts, in my translation, of what they said:

“You can’t go to the Games and shut your eyes. You can’t say: The Games is the Olympic Village and no more. You can’t stay callous about human rights. You are going into a practically totalitarian country, where freedom of movement, of speech, of thought aren’t respected, where the values of Olympism – self-respect, respect for others, universality among peoples – aren’t promulgated… . I will go to Beijing to compete. But that doesn’t prohibit my right of expression… . It is necessary to send a strong message. Boycott the opening ceremony? March in black or without a flag? Do something during my 50 kilometers? Everyone has ideas for one to think about.”

– Yohann Diniz, world silver medalist, race walk.

——

“China isn’t France, and it would be delusional to apply our parameters to this immense country… . But as soon as it’s a question of freedom of speech, I can only be shocked by the practices there, which run counter to fundamental rights.”

– Frederique Jossinet, 2004 Olympic silver medalist, judo

——

“I proposed the idea of wearing a green ribbon during the Beijing Games to begin a discussion about human rights among other athletes. Why green? It is the color of hope.”

– Romain Mesnil, 2007 world silver medalist, pole vault

——

“I know many people will think we are self-centered because we don’t favor an Olympic boycott. But you must understand we have been training four years for this and we are, to a certain extent, hostages of the situation. The IOC chose China, not us.”

– Lucie Decosse, world silver medalist, judo

——

“The world expects a lot of us athletes, even though it isn’t our role to immerse ourselves in geopolitical questions beyond our competence. And it’s not in our interest to lose energy in this fight while we are preparing for the most important competition of our lives. But that is the athlete talking. As a French citizen, I am disgusted by this unacceptable situation.”

Erwan Le Pechoux, world gold medalist, fencing

——

“The idea, ‘Run and shut up,’ that’s not my thing.”

– Ronald Pognon, world relay champion, track

——

“Certain people would like to restrict us to being athletes, to keep us in arenas and stadiums, but like every human being, we have an opinion, a conscience, a voice … I don’t think of myself as a machine only good for winning matches or breaking records. You can’t go to China and be completely indifferent. Even at our low level of importance, the dissidents’ problem also is our problem.”

– Veronique Pecqueux-Rolland, world champion, team handball

Philip Hersh covers Olympic sports for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.