Athletes appeal for human rights in China

BEIJING –- More than 100 leading active and retired athletes, including 2008 Olympic gold medal contenders Blanka Vlasic of Croatia, the reigning world high-jump champion, and Dayron Rubles of Cuba, high hurdles world record holder, have signed a letter asking Chinese President Hu Jintao to respect human rights, find a peaceful solution to the issue of Tibet and end the death penalty.

The letter, appearing on the website "Sport for Peace,'' appeared in Wednesday's editions of the International Herald-Tribune.

Its text and the signatories, including several Olympic champions and many 2008 Olympians, can be found here.

-- Philip Hersh

Comments

[MarkMark]

Good for these athletes for sticking their necks out and speaking up !
In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, some athletes even boycotted the games due to the obvious human rights violations there.
In both cases, you have police states using the Olympics to try to look good to the world, and gloss over their crimes against their citizens. The games aren't political? They couldn't be more so.