Syrian athletes will be able to take part in the London Olympics this summer, but any of the country’s officials covered by a EU travel ban will not be welcome at the Games, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday.
The presence of the Syrian delegation at the London Games starting in July is set to be controversial after more than a year of protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s rule led to violence that the UN says has killed 9,000 people.
Syrian opposition activists quoted in the British media have urged Britain to ban the head of Syria’s National Olympic Committee, General Mowaffak Joumaa, and other officials regarded as close to al-Assad, from the Olympics.
However, Cameron said he did not believe that Syrian athletes should be punished “for the sins of the regime.”
“Syrian athletes will be taking part in the Games, and that is right, but let’s be absolutely clear: Britain has led efforts within the European Union and elsewhere to institute asset bans, travel freezes and punishing sanctions against this despicable regime and anyone covered by one of those travel bans will not be welcomed in London,” he said.
Cameron was speaking at a news conference side by side with International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge. The IOC is making its final inspection of the sporting venues this week before the Games begin.
It was not immediately clear whether any Syrian officials planning to travel to the Olympics are covered by sanctions.
The IOC said this month that Syria would be present at the London Olympics despite the violence in the country.
Pere Miro, an IOC official, said he expected four or five Syrian athletes to qualify for London, mainly in athletics and swimming, and that they would march into the stadium under the Syrian flag. He said Syria was also expected to send four or five officials, with Joumaa among those automatically invited.
Cameron said he and Rogge had discussed security, transport — seen as two of the thorniest potential problems for the London Olympics and Paralympics — and the “legacy” that the Games would leave behind.
London has been a victim of militants in the recent past. In July 2005, four young British Islamists carried out suicide bomb attacks, killing 52 commuters on the capital’s transport network, a day after the city was awarded the Games.
Rogge said he was confident that London would lay on a great Games, “but of course we all know that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.”
He praised “positive results” in terms of the continuing benefits the Games will provide in regenerating parts of East London and in new sports venues, and said he had “no doubts whatsoever” about transport and security for the Games.
Britain has said it will provide up to 13,500 troops to protect the Olympics, after increased concern about security after the Arab Spring led it to raise the overall security budget to more than £1 billion (US$1.6 billion).
Cameron said that the London Games would be ready on time and on budget.
“This will be the biggest and the most integrated security operation in mainland Britain in our peacetime history,” Cameron said, but he added that the security operation would not overshadow the Games.
He said it was time to “tear up any notion” that the Games would leave behind “white elephants” in costly sports facilities that would lie unused after the Olympics.
“Six out of the eight venues already have long-term futures agreed,” he said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but