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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.

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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.

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I don't know if this story is true (given the lying source), but if it is - bravo, China!

Those British "athletes" who care so much about human rights should stay home and fight for human rights in the U.K. - and in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all other countries where the U.K. commits military aggression and war crimes.

Then, they should read some history and do public penance for the crimes committed by the British Empire in China (from the Opium Wars to the Boxer Rebellion and much else).

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Originally posted by Coyote:
I fully disagree, Unionist. If this is true, it is outrageous. The issue isn't China's human rights record, it's the ability of the UK to curtail the speech of individual athletes. Surely the state should not have this power. If a UK athlete uses a stop in Israel to critisize the Occupation, or in the US to critisize the Iraq war (which could be done at home, too) then they should have that right.

Whether the criticism of China is appropriate or justified is another matter entirely; and I disagree with you on that to. But I don't think that's the principle at stake.

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Well, apparently I was wrong - it's not China that is restricting the athletes, it's the U.K. Olympic committee. I got taken in by Snuckles erroneous thread title. The press reports make no mention of China demanding anything.

Instead, it is apparently the IOC Charter which is being invoked:

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The document refers athletes to Section 51 of the IOC charter which "provides for no kind of demonstration, or political, religious or racial propaganda in the Olympic sites, venues or other areas."

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So once again, this is much ado about nothing.

Coyote, if you believe foreign athletes should have the right to organize demonstrations or do mass leafletting on political, religious or racial topics while visiting China, you had better address your concerns to the IOC.

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The document refers athletes to Section 51 of the IOC charter which "provides for no kind of demonstration, or political, religious or racial propaganda in the Olympic sites, venues or other areas.

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If the IOC had any goals at all besides making money for its corporate sponsors and enhancing the prestige of its governmental patrons, it would make no such demands on athletes and tell any country seeking to host the games that they had no right to make such demands either.

[ 11 February 2008: Message edited by: brookmere ]