Athletes demand free speech clarity

EUROPEAN athletes and officials demanded clearer guidelines yesterday on how free they will be to express opinions on human rights, Tibet and other issues at the Beijing Olympics.

“Athletes want to know what is allowed and what is not allowed,” Claudia Bokel, a spokeswoman for the European Athletes Commission, said at a meeting of leaders of the Association of National Olympic Committees in Beijing.

The body, which represents the world’s 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), is meeting for three days and spent much of its first day addressing free speech.