Quizzed on China, DeFrantz Opposes Any Boycott in ’08

Anita DeFrantz, the sole U.S. candidate in the running for the International Olympic Committee presidency, said Tuesday she would oppose any boycott of the 2008 Summer Olympics if they are in Beijing--or, for that matter, anywhere else.

DeFrantz, 48, of Los Angeles, the senior IOC representative in the United States, also said the spy plane dispute between the U.S. and China ought not affect Beijing’s bid for the 2008 Games.

“The Games are seven years away, wherever they will be hosted in 2008, so we all must remain calm,” she said. “This incident will be solved by then.”

DeFrantz made her comments in a telephone call with reporters that had been arranged by the U.S. Olympic Committee to promote her presidential candidacy.

Much of the hourlong call, however, was devoted to questions about the Beijing bid and potential ramifications over Chinese detainment of the 24-man American spy plane crew.

Human-rights activists have long expressed concerns about the Beijing bid. The spy plane incident has made the bid a delicate subject for DeFrantz in particular but also for the four others aiming to succeed longtime IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch--Kim Un Yong of South Korea, Dick Pound of Canada, Jacques Rogge of Belgium and Pal Schmitt of Hungary. The election is July 16 in Moscow.

Three days before that, the IOC will select the site of the 2008 Games. Beijing, long considered the front-runner, is competing against Paris, Toronto, Istanbul and Osaka, Japan.

“Wherever the Games are, that’s where they are,” DeFrantz said in explaining her opposition to any boycott.

DeFrantz, then on the U.S. rowing team, was a leading critic of former President Jimmy Carter’s decision to boycott the 1980 Moscow Games.