Rogge says Olympics in 'crisis'

NF Reporter · 04-10-2008, 10:22 PM

AP - Crisis. Disarray. Sadness. Four months before the opening of what was supposed to be the grandest Olympics in history, the head of the International Olympic Committee is using words that convey anything but a sense of joyous enthusiasm.

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waltky · 06-06-2008, 03:40 AM

China's pre-Olympics human rights abuses...

China's Pre-Olympics Crackdown on Dissidents Adds to Forced Labor Camps
June 05, 2008 - With only 70 days until the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing, human rights analysts say Communist China is cracking down on dissidents, adding to the already huge populations in its forced labor and child labor camps.

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Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, said that as a result of the crackdowns, human rights abuses will not be evident during the 2008 Olympics. "The time that we're seeing human rights abuses in China is right now ... leading up to the Olympics," Mosher told Cybercast News Service. "That's when the dissidents are being put away; that's when the labor union activists are being arrested; that's when the beggars are being swept off the streets of Beijing and sent packing."

Mosher said the Chinese government is so determined to put its best foot forward that even potential political dissidents are being placed "out of sight." "How they do that is they either put them under house arrest, they send them out into rural exile, or they put them into labor camps," he said.

According to Mosher, the Chinese government is using the pretext of the Olympics to carry out a huge urban renewal project in Beijing, destroying thousands of homes in the process. There are estimates, he said, that 2 million people have been rendered homeless by the demolition project to create the Olympic Village. "Twenty thousand people have been arrested just for protesting the destruction of their homes," said Mosher, "so that 20,000 people has been added to the labor-camp population." An estimated 10 million people are currently enslaved in Chinese labor camps, Mosher said.

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waltky · 08-10-2008, 09:16 PM

C'mon in, the water's fine...

China insists Olympics are safe despite weekend violence
10 Aug.`08 - Chinese officials are trying to reassure athletes and coaches that they are safe in Beijing after bomb attacks in the west of the country and the killing of a US tourist in the capital.

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Security has been tightened at Beijing's tourist sites after a Chinese man stabbed two American tourists then threw himself off the historic Drum Tower.

The weekend also saw a series of bomb blasts in the west of China. According to Chinese media reports, four Muslim separatist suicide bombers were killed in the attacks and three more were shot dead by police.

Olympic organisers have told visiting athletes that the bombings pose no threat to the Games because they happened thousands of kilometres from Beijing. A major security crackdown is now in place in Xinjiang province to prevent further violent clashes during the Olympic Games.

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waltky · 09-27-2008, 02:06 AM

FIG Investigating China's 2000 Team, Too...

Babies on the Bar? Gymnast Probe Grows
September 24, 2008 - Investigation into ages of Chinese gymnasts expands to include 2000 squad.

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China's gold medal gymnasts aren't the only ones whose ages are getting a closer look. The investigation into the eligibility of the Chinese women's team in Beijing has been expanded to include members of the 2000 squad, which won the bronze medal in Sydney, The Associated Press has learned. International gymnastics officials are examining whether Yang Yun and Dong Fangxiao, in particular, were old enough to compete. "If we had a look at all the articles that came before, during and after the games, there were always rumors about the ages of China's athletes in Sydney," Andre Gueisbuhler, secretary general of the International Gymnastics Federation, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

"We did not have another choice," he said. "If we want to remain credible, then we have to look into things." No other Chinese teams are being investigated, Gueisbuhler said. "At this moment in time, we just have concerns about 2000 and 2008," he said. The investigation is ongoing, a month after the Beijing Games ended, and there is no timetable for when it will be finished. "It's a work in progress," said Emmanuelle Moreau, spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee. "Until the work has been completed, there is nothing we can say."

Zhang Hongliang, a media officer for the Chinese Gymnastics Center, which oversees the Chinese national team, said he didn't know anything about an investigation into the Sydney athletes. The center would "promptly provide information" to the FIG, Zhang said. Yang's age has long been an issue for debate. In a June 2007 interview that aired on state broadcaster China Central Television, Yang said she was 14 at the Sydney Games. Gymnastics rules require athletes to be 16 during an Olympic year in order to compete.

More ABC News: FIG Investigating China's 2000 Team, Too