British Olympic chiefs have backed away from a plan requiring all British athletes heading to the Beijing Olympics to keep quiet about China’s human rights record.

On Sunday it was revealed that a new clause had been inserted into athletes’ contracts forbidding them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympics. This was the first time the British Olympic Association (BOA) had inserted such a clause.

The clause, in section 4 of the athletes’ contract stated: ‘[Athletes] are not to comment on any politically sensitive issues’, referring athletes to section 51 of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) charter, which ‘provides for no kind of demonstration, or political, religious or racial propaganda in the Olympic sites, venues and other areas’.

The BOA confirmed to the UK’s Mail on Sunday that any athlete refusing to sign the agreement would not be allowed to travel to Beijing and that breach of this contract while in Beijing would result in athletes being sent home.

However, following vehement criticism in the British press and from international Tibet support groups, the British Olympic Association agreed to revisit the language used in the athletes’ contract.

Other countries including the US, Canada, Finland and Australia, have pledged their athletes will be free to express opinions on almost any issue, including China-Tibet relations and human rights issues in China.

Only New Zealand and Belgium have banned their athletes from expressing political views while competing at this year’s Olympics.

In August 2007 John Coates, head of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) stated that Australian athletes are ‘entitled to have their opinions and express them’.

British human rights campaigner Lord David Alton condemned the BOC’s move as ‘making a mockery of the right to free speech’, adding that ‘imposing compulsory vows of silence is an affront to our athletes, and in China it will be viewed as acquiescence’.

The Olympics have been shrouded in politics throughout their modern history. Most famously, Adolf Hitler attempted to use the Munich Games in 1936 to glorify his Nazi regime and promote Aryan superiority. More recently, countries including the US boycotted the Moscow Games in 1980 to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afganistan.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics are already shaping up to be the most politically charged since 1936. Critics are accusing China of using the Olympics to gain acceptance within the community of civilized nations while failing categorically to address a plethora of human rights issues at home.

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