Olympic athletes condemn China Ban Visa: Not a fair game

More than 40 athletes taking part in the Beijing Olympics have today signed an open letter addressed to China's government urging it to respect human rights and freedom of religion, particularly in Tibet.

Coming on the eve of the opening ceremony, it marks fresh embarrassment for the host nation, which also faced criticism from George Bush and renewed protests in Tiananmen Square.

Signatories to the letter include the men's 110m hurdles world record holder, Dayron Robles of Cuba, well known to Chinese fans as the main rival to their most famous track athlete, Liu Xiang, the reigning Olympic champion. Others involved included the US 400m runner DeeDee Trotter and the Croatian women's world high jump champion, Blanka Vlasic.

The letter calls on China's president, Hu Jintao, "to protect freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of opinion in your country, including Tibet".

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[partylineOO]

You know what I don't like? Organ Harvesting.

[dwilinwoo]

he is a politician

[patrickmzhou]

former one. He is not competing. You idiot.

Whoever made this video is hypocrit.

[helleralfed]

you want others not to bide the sports and politics together, you should do the same thing first.

[google2com]

Well...if it's not your world or your dream...then you probably shouldn't attend the game anyway. I mean, it's like inviting guests to your home and you do the best you can in the limited amount of time, like putting away the dirty dishes and sweep dusts under the rug...But all the guest focuses on are the dirty dishes.

Cheek should be greatful that he didn't ban from China permenantly since he so disrespectfully trying to organize Political protests during a time which chinese celebrites.

[613663]

He was a former player and try to put sports and politics together which Beijing don't like.