Gag Order

British athletes hoping to compete at the Beijing Olympics will be required to sign a contract forbidding them from speaking out about China's himan rights record. The British press is outraged and is comparing it to the 1936 Berlin games when the British team was required to give a Nazi salute.

British athletes will be banned from competing in this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing if they criticise China's totalitarian regime.

The gagging order has been imposed by the British Olympic Association. Competitors who break the rule will not travel to the games or, if they are already in China, will be put on the next plane home.

It means sportsmen and women will be unable to raise concerns about China's human rights record or its occupation of Tibet.

Critics accused the BOA of bowing to political pressure and said the move raised the spectre of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which passed off without protest and were hailed as a propaganda coup for the Nazi regime.

Since the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, British competitors have been asked to sign contracts including a pledge "not to comment on any politically sensitive issues".

However, this year's contracts will, for the first time, explicitly refer competitors to Section 51 of the International Olympic Committee charter, which "provides for no kind of demonstration, or political, religious or racial propaganda in the Olympic sites, venues or other areas".

The BOA denied suppressing athletes' comments. But a spokesman said it would be wrong for athletes to use the Games as a soap box.

"Clearly what we are not trying to do is suppress comment or debate from our athletes. If an individual is asked a direct question and makes a response that's fine."

The clause was designed to prevent organised protests like those at the 1968 games in Mexico City, he said.

But the BOA's decision is in contrast to other countries, including the United States and Australia, where athletes will be free to speak out about China should they wish to do so.  

Thank heavens other countries are not following the British "example."