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`Flying Dutchman' wants IOC to speak out on human rights

Three-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Pieter van den Hoogenband wants IOC president Jacques Rogge to speak out on human rights in China ahead of the Beijing Games.

Rogge should "on behalf of all athletes publicly call for an improvement of the human rights situation in China," the reigning Olympic 100m freestyle champion wrote in a column for yesterday's edition of best-selling Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. "He can count on my full support and sympathy."

Van den Hoogenband said such a public statement by Rogge would allow athletes to concentrate on their preparations for the Games.

"This way, athletes can point to the IOC stance whenever they are asked their opinion on this tricky question," Van den Hoogenband wrote. "We athletes are first and foremost concentrating on delivering the best performance of our lives. That makes it impossible to be involved in politics at the same time."

Rogge has repeatedly said the Olympics will be a "force for good" in China. But he has stressed that the IOC is a sports organization, not a political body, and is not in a position to dictate political changes in China or any other countries.

Van den Hoogenband is part of a growing chorus drawing attention to human rights, free speech and other political issues in China in the countdown to the Aug. 8 to Aug. 24 Olympics. Last month, film director Steven Spielberg backed out as an artistic adviser to the Games, saying China wasn't doing enough to pressure its ally Sudan into ending the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region.

Activist groups are also seeking to leverage China's determination to stage a successful Olympics to shame the host country into changing its policies on human rights, press freedoms and diplomacy. The government has angrily denounced what it calls attempts to "politicize" the Games.

Van den Hoogenband said the human rights debate "threatens to drive sport into the background half a year before the Olympic flame is lit."

Some Olympic committees and officials in Europe have been accused of trying to muzzle athletes from speaking out about sensitive issues in Beijing.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) was criticized for planning to require its athletes to sign a new clause in their contracts prohibiting them from making politically sensitive remarks or gestures during the Olympics. The BOA later backed off.
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