Canadian athletes cautioned on speaking out at Beijing Olympics
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Canada’s Olympic organizers will warn athletes to watch what they say in China next year, out of fear of a national security law in Hong Kong that has been used to arrest Beijing’s critics.
“There have been dissidents in Hong Kong who have been taken away and charged for saying things that have been contrary to the Communist Party of the Chinese government’s policies,” said David Shoemaker, chief executive officer of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
“So we will talk to our athletes about the implications of what they say and of the topics that they choose to speak about.”
Athletes have the right to speak freely, Mr. Shoemaker said in an interview with The Globe and Mail, in which he expressed opposition to calls for a boycott of the Beijing Olympic Winter Games next February. Such an action is unlikely to affect Chinese policies toward Muslims or its incarceration of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, he said – and, he added, could even make things worse for the two detained Canadians.
By attending the Olympics, athletes can be part of “the most spectacular sporting event in the world that unites and inspires and amplifies diverse voices,” he said. In Beijing, they “can be part of a conversation.”
But before they go, the Canadian Olympic Committee will also spend “a considerable amount of time” counselling Olympians on what “they might consider not commenting on, perhaps, at least until after the Games have taken place,” he said. “Because of the implications that that could have for them under things like the national security law.”
I'm so old I remember this...
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I'm counting on either a boycott or outright cancellation of the games.
Elbows up!
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@renauda said in Canadian athletes cautioned on speaking out at Beijing Olympics:
I'm counting on either a boycott or outright cancellation of the games.
+1
Even without China, sports meets for most types of sports featured in the Olympics are unnecessary.
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@renauda said in Canadian athletes cautioned on speaking out at Beijing Olympics:
I'm counting on either a boycott or outright cancellation of the games.
There was an article in the IHT today about that very thing. I think this will increase over the next year.
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@renauda said in Canadian athletes cautioned on speaking out at Beijing Olympics:
I'm counting on either a boycott or outright cancellation of the games.
+1
Even without China, sports meets for most types of sports featured in the Olympics are unnecessary.
@axtremus said in Canadian athletes cautioned on speaking out at Beijing Olympics:
@renauda said in Canadian athletes cautioned on speaking out at Beijing Olympics:
I'm counting on either a boycott or outright cancellation of the games.
+1
Even without China, sports meets for most types of sports featured in the Olympics are unnecessary.
You've never competed, have you?
