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China's hosting of the Olympics has become a flashpoint in the aftermath of protests in Tibet, but it's business as usual for the Canadian team.
The Canadian Olympic Committee agreed with European Union sport ministers and various countries' Olympic committees Monday in ruling out the possibility of a boycott of the Games.
"I can't see any circumstances arising that would have us support a boycott," said Chris Rudge, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
A Canadian team of about 330 athletes, plus 140 support staff, will participate in the 2008 Summer Olympiad Aug. 8-24 in Beijing.
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The awarding of the Olympics to Beijing heightened scrutiny of China's human rights record. Anti-China protests in Tibet that turned violent Friday have made it a hot-button topic again.
But the head of the European Olympic Committees said Monday in Slovenia his organization was "100 per cent unanimous" in not supporting a boycott of the Games.
The IOC's position is that it is a sports organization and can't lecture China on political matters. The COC echoes that sentiment.
"We believe that the Olympic movement and the presence of an Olympic Games in a country is a force for good and a force for positive change," Rudge said Monday from Toronto. "We believe those things are occurring in China, notwithstanding the fact that it's often not as fast or as identifiable as people would like.
"We would certainly deplore what's going on in Tibet right now. It's very unfortunate and we hope both sides can move to a speedy resolution of the differences and restore peace, growth and harmony in the region."
A couple of athletes want the IOC to be more demanding of the Chinese in regards to human rights. Three-time swimming gold medallist Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands has urged Rogge to speak out on behalf of all athletes urging China to improve its human rights situation.
World 50-metre butterfly champion Roland Schoeman of South Africa said the IOC "should stand up and say, 'The way these people (Tibetans) are being treated is not acceptable."'
Rudge says the COC isn't muzzling Canadian athletes if they have an opinion on the situation.
"We think our athletes are bright, intelligent people and they travel around the world," he said. "They're quite capable of drawing their own conclusions with respect to issues.
"We're certainly are not issuing any edicts with respect to what athletes may or may not say, nor will we be asking them to sign athlete agreements that would prohibit them from speaking out on issues of conscience."
Athletes are asked at every Games, however, to sign an agreement respecting the Olympic charter that forbids them from participating in political or religious demonstrations at Olympic venues during the Games, Rudge said.
"When they're walking around the street, people are free to say and do what they want," he added.
A U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, and the subsequent retaliatory boycott of the 1984 Games in Los Angeles by Eastern Bloc countries was largely seen as ineffective and a victimizing of the athletes.
"I certainly not wish to encourage anyone to use athletes as a pawn in somebody else's game," Rudge said.
