IOC will be taken to court, say exiles
Peter Simpson
Exiled Tibetan athletes banned from the Olympics vowed last night not to give up their fight to compete next year in Beijing.
The 30-strong squad claimed they would use the law to exploit loopholes in the Olympic Charter so as to have the controversial ban – made earlier this week by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – overturned.
“We will employ lawyers to use Swiss law, which the [Swiss-based] IOC must adhere to, and will show that amendments to the Olympic charter were illegal,” Wangpo Tethong, the president of the unofficial Tibetan National Olympic Committee told the SCMP last night.
“We aim to prove the amendments [made in 1996] were done illegally, and that we have the right to compete like Palestine and Taiwan, and participate under a neutral Olympic flag, which is approved by the IOC,” he added.
Wangpo Tethong accused the IOC of running scared from the Beijing Olympic organiser Bocog, which has ruled athletes from the Tibet Autonomous Region can only compete under the Chinese flag.
“We would never compete under the flag of China,” Wangpo Tethong said, adding they would appeal to the United Nations for help.
The IOC was “normally creative” in finding ways for disputed territories to compete at the Olympics, said Wangpo Tethong, and cited East Timor and Bosnia-Herzegovina as two cases in which the IOC allowed individual athletes from these nations to represent their countries at Athens 2004 and Sydney 2000 respectively.
Athletes from the Palestinian territories also participated at Athens, as did Taiwanese athletes, who competed as Chinese Taipei – participation allowed before the IOC amended its charter in 1996. The changes decreed only national committees from countries recognised by the international community could take part in the Olympics – amendments the Tibetans now claim were illegal under Swiss law “to which the IOC must adhere”.
About 100 flag-waving, banner-holding Tibet supporters – protested outside the IOC headquarters in Lausanne on Monday as Wangpo Tethong met with senior officials.
“For some reason, the IOC is not being very creative for us. The meeting was very negative and [the rejection] very harsh. They did not even think about allowing us to compete under the Olympic flag, obviously because of pressure from Bocog,” claimed Wangpo Tethong.
He added: “Our chances would have been much better if this was the run up to the London 2012 Games. But the IOC is too afraid of Bocog … [It would appear] Bocog has more influence than the IOC.”
However, Wangpo Tethong claimed one senior IOC official told him after the rejection to “keep pressuring the IOC and find new ways” to compete in Beijing.
Team Tibet have 30 athletes, all of whom class themselves as refugees. None, said Wangpo Tethong, stood much chance of winning a gold medal “but all were up to Olympic standard”, including one table tennis player – 26-year-old Dominik Kelsang Erne – and two beach volleyball players.
The IOC last night remained adamant it made the right decision based on the Olympic Charter.
“The meeting took place in a friendly atmosphere,” said spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau.
“The team were obviously passionate about their cause but the IOC explained that, according to its current rules, it will not grant recognition to a National Olympic Committee [status] for Tibet. Indeed, Tibet does not fulfil the condition [under Olympic Charter rule 31] of being an independent state recognised by the international community.”
According to the official state-run Tibet Sports Bureau, several ethnic Tibetans are training with the Chinese national archery, marathon and wrestling squads – all hoping for a showing at Beijing.
Team Tibet are now seeking more publicity, said Wangpo Tethong, and the Doha-based TV network Al Jazeera has run a profile on the squad.
“It is bitterly disappointing that the IOC has rejected the Tibetan request,” said Matt Whitticase of the Free Tibet Campaign.
“The IOC’s own Olympic Charter seeks to build a `peaceful and better world … with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play’. But the IOC’s rejection hardly demonstrates `fair play’ and instead smacks of expediency and a refusal to upset China.”
