IOC chief: Olympics boycott no solution for Tibet

The president of the International Olympic Committee today poured cold water on calls for a boycott of the Summer Games in Beijing over China’s crackdown in Tibet, saying it would only harm athletes.

“We believe that the boycott doesn’t solve anything,” Jacques Rogge told reporters on the Caribbean island of St Kitts. “On the contrary, it is penalising innocent athletes and it is stopping the organisation from something that definitely is worthwhile organising.”

China has ordered tourists out of Tibet’s capital and troops patrolled the streets today, a day after clashes that left at least 30 protesters dead, according to a Tibetan exile group.

The demonstrations against Chinese rule are the largest and most violent in Tibet in nearly two decades.

On a six-day tour of the Caribbean, Rogge expressed condolences for the victims and said he hoped calm would be restored immediately.

He declined to say whether the Committee would change its stance if violence continued or more people were killed.

“The International Olympic Committee has consistently resisted calls for a boycott of the Olympic games,” Rogge said. He declined to comment further on Tibet during a brief news conference.

IOC vice president Thomas Bach said the Committee would speak to China about human rights and condemned the crackdown, saying: “Every use of violence is a step backwards.”

But “a boycott would be the wrong way because that will cut lines of communication”, he added.

The Committee issued a statement calling for an end to the violence.

“The IOC shares the world’s desire for a peaceful resolution to the tensions of past days in the Tibetan region of China,” it said. “We hope that calm can return to the region as quickly as possible.”