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Kayaker Adam van Koeverden is accustomed to pressure. The Olympic gold medalist and world defending champion in the solo 500-metre sprint has pressure to perform and pressure to lead.

Yesterday, a phalanx of reporters introduced a new pressure - to defend Canada's mission to the Beijing Olympics. It's not a role he sought, but the outspoken 26-year-old paddling star from Oakville, Ont., doesn't shrink from questions on the thorny topic. He is adamant there's no gain to be found in personal or national boycotts of Beijing over human-rights issues and even will stand up to a fellow Olympian in the arena of opinion.

"I don't think my going to China to race my kayak is the same as signing up to be a member of their parliament," he said in an interview, taking direct aim on comments made at a human-rights demonstration by Olympic figure-skating silver medalist Elvis Stojko.

"I train a lot in the United States, but I don't support a lot of what the United States does."

Stojko said last Saturday at a pro-human-rights protest at the Ontario Legislature that athletes should take a stand and consider staying home from the Games.

"I know for me, it would be extremely difficult to be able to go compete in a country that was hosting the Games, but don't exemplify what the Games are being held for," Stojko told The Canadian Press. "People should know what's going on and athletes have a chance to be able to do that if they wish."

The idea of staying away doesn't sit well with van Koeverden. The wreckage wrought by a political boycott is close to home. His coach, Scott Oldershaw was to compete in 1980 in the four-man boat with Alwyn Morris and brothers Dean and Reed Oldershaw, but the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was killed by a boycott of the Moscow Games.

"If these were his [Stojko's] Olympic Games, I think he'd have moderated those comments a little," said van Koeverden, who added he saw Stojko skate in China.

Olympic athletes are not supposed to initiate propagandistic political statements at the Olympic Games or venues, but they're free to respond to questions. The kayaker is glad there's no gag order on Canadian Olympians to curb debate. He's been slagged as "self-serving" by readers critical of his Internet blog on sportsnet.ca, in which van Koeverden described his coach's 1980 frustration and asked, "Why is it that boycotting an Olympic Games is considered to be an appropriate sacrificial lamb for the advancement of a political agenda, when foreign trade, diplomatic relations, cultural exchanges and tourism are rarely put on the chopping block?"

"No one's ever come up to me personally to say I shouldn't go to the Olympic Games," he said in the interview. "The Internet's an easy way to say something anonymously. The main thing is, if people are going to say something [about the human-rights issue], they should say what they're doing in their lives to protest [China]," he said, pointing to the array of reporters' electronic equipment in front of him, which he suspected were mainly made in China.

"I studied kinesiology. Racing my kayak doesn't make me a political expert. But having the Games in Beijing produces more opportunities for discussion and dialogue. There's some positivity to be seen in that. The athletes don't really have a choice. They could stay home, but that's like changing the channel on the television: It doesn't stop what's happening on the other channel. Ignoring the problem or a boycott is not a means to a solution."