What a Fiasco with Chinese Characteristics -- Internet and TV
censorship, doping and pollution top IOC meetings prior to Beijing Olympics

International Herald Tribune
Internet and TV censorship, doping and pollution top IOC meetings prior
to Beijing Olympics

The Associated Press
Thursday, July 31, 2008

BEIJING: Media censorship, doping and chronic air pollution threatening
the Beijing Olympics are among the main concerns when President Jacques
Rogge and other top IOC officials meet this weekend for a final review
with the games set to open in a week.

The International Olympic Committee and the Chinese organizers are under
fire for failing to deliver on pledges of unblocked Internet access, TV
reporting freedoms and clean air.

The Beijing Olympics are supposed to show China as an open, rising
power. But many facets of the games are contentious. Potential terrorist
threats have been used to justify a stark security buildup that has
smothered tourism in the face of 500,000 troops, local police, commandos
and volunteers.

The latest event to tarnish the run-up to the games came this week when
senior IOC member Kevan Gosper, head of the IOC press commission,
backtracked on a promise made four months ago to lift Internet
censorship for journalists during the games.

Television broadcasters have seen the organizers renege on similar
promises, leading to battles over live TV coverage, the movement of
satellite trucks and frequency allocations.

On Thursday, hinting at dissension inside senior ranks of the IOC,
Gosper said that Rogge must have known about a deal with Chinese
officials to censor Internet access for journalists covering the Beijing
Olympics.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Gosper said he
was unaware of the changes until Tuesday when Beijing organizing
committee spokesman Sun Wiede said journalists would have what he call
only "sufficient access" to the Internet.

"I would be surprised if someone made a change without at least
informing him (Rogge)," Gosper said. "But I really do not know the
detail. I only know the ground rules on censorship have changed but have
only been announced here. It must have related to a former understanding
to which I was not a party.

"This certainly isn't what we guaranteed the international media and
it's certainly contrary to normal circumstances of reporting on Olympic
Games."

Rogge arrived Thursday in Beijing, but declined to speak with reporters
at the airport. He's also likely to face sustained questioning from
colleagues and reporters, having said repeatedly that foreign media
would be able to work freely in China.

Sun said this week that reporters would have what he called "sufficient
access." Sites for Amnesty International, links to Tibet or information
on the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, for instance, are all blocked for
reporters working at Olympic venues and the main press center.

Beijing's smoggy air has yet to clear after nearly two weeks of drastic
pollution controls, which included removing half the cars from the
city's roads.

Officials are ready to apply additional "emergency measures," that would
include closing 100 more factories in Beijing, and about 115 more in the
neighboring city of Tianjin and surrounding Hebei province.

Rogge has warned that outdoor endurance events of more than one hour
would be postponed if air quality were poor.

U.S. men's water polo coach Terry Schroeder said he noticed the
pollution immediately when he arrived this week.

"Some of our guys have inherent breathing issues, and to put them in
this environment ? it's worrisome for sure," Schroeder said.

The IOC executive board opens a two-day meeting Saturday at a central
Beijing hotel, followed by a three-day session of the full general
assembly starting Tuesday.

The IOC meetings will also address the anti-doping program for the
games, which Olympic officials describe as the most rigorous and
comprehensive in sporting history. About 4,500 drug tests will be
conducted, including for EPO and human growth hormone, with many
athletes targeted for unannounced out-of-competition controls.

"Every athlete, the clean ones and the not clean ones, should clearly
know that we mean business," Rogge told The Associated Press in a recent
interview. "The IOC will do everything that is humanly possible to have
the cleanest possible games."

The issue of doping-tainted Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou could be on
the agenda, with the IOC assessing her eligibility for Beijing.

The 100-meter runner was forced out of the 2004 Athens Olympics after
she and fellow Greek athlete Kostas Kenteris missed drug tests on the
eve of the opening ceremony and later claimed to have been involved in a
motorcycle accident. They both later served two-year bans.

The 33-year-old Thanou has been named to the Greek team for Beijing
based on her qualifying times, but the IOC has said it will review her
case to determine whether she can compete.

The IOC also is reviewing whether to reallocate the medals stripped from
American athlete Marion Jones after her doping admissions. Jones won
five medals, including three gold, at the 2000 Olympics.

Standing to move up to the gold in the 100 is Thanou, who finished
second behind Jones. The IOC is reluctant to award the medal to Thanou
and could decide to leave the medal spot vacant.

Jones also won gold in the 200 meters and 4x400-meter relay, and bronze
in the long jump and 4x100-meter relay. Her seven relay teammates were
stripped of their medals by the IOC in April.

Also unsettled are the gold medals won by the U.S. men's team in the
4x400-meter relay in Sydney. Team member Antonio Pettigrew admitted in
court in May that he was doping at the time, meaning that he and the
rest of the runners ? including Michael Johnson ? face losing their medals.

During the meetings, the IOC will also receive progress reports from
organizers of the next three Olympics ? the 2010 Winter Games in
Vancouver, 2012 Summer Olympics in London and 2014 Winter Games in
Sochi, Russia.
Notes:
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