Athletes warned not to protest at Beijing Games

Chinese officials have warned athletes not to make political statements at next month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the Beijing Games opening ceremony

Chinese officials have warned athletes not to make political statements at next month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Yang Shu, deputy director-general of the Beijing 2022 international relations department, said: “Anything and any behaviour or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against Chinese laws and regulations, is subject to certain punishment.”

The Games, which begin on February 4, are likely to be among the most controversial because of China’s poor human rights record, especially in the Muslim region of Xinjiang and its suppression of freedoms in Hong Kong.

Under International Olympic Committee rules, athletes are “not welcome to make political statements”. Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter states that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites”.

It was relaxed last year to allow for gestures on the field if they were made without disruption and with respect for competitors. It has been clarified that athletes will be free to express themselves in Beijing outside of events.

Rob Koehler, director-general of Global Athlete, which has hundreds of Olympians as members, urged athletes to avoid criticisms of China for their own safety. He was speaking at a webinar hosted by Human Rights Watch.

Noah Hoffman, a US cross-country skier who competed in the past two Games, suggested at the event that athletes could speak out “when they get back” to their home countries.

Several countries, including Australia, the US and Britain, have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games by not sending government officials. Others, such as Japan and New Zealand, have said they would not send political representatives but have not called it a diplomatic boycott. Russian President President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the opening ceremony. The prime ministers of Mongolia and Pakistan, President Fernandez of Argentina, and UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres expected to attend the Games.

Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog affiliated to Toronto University, has found security flaws in the mandatory mobile phone app for athletes at the Games, in which data protections could be easily sidestepped.

The app, MY2022, also allowed users to report “politically sensitive” content, and it has a censorship keyword list that covers political topics such as Xinjiang and Tibet, according to the report. The list was inactive, but the research said the app contained code to activate it.

The Times