April 13---The olympics!

Has the Olympics lost the plot? Well has the IOC lost the plot?

Has the Olympics become a huge political/commercial bun fight?

Maybe it is time to reboot the whole movement?

The torch relay is just the start of the end!

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/sports/080408/s04089A.html

IOC president Jacques Rogge under
pressure as protests hit torch relay

Published: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 | 1:26 AM ET

Canadian Press: Stephen Wade, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING - Under pressure to speak out on human rights and
concerned about a threatened Olympic boycott, athletes want IOC
president Jacques Rogge to provide stronger guidelines on how
they should conduct themselves.
As Rogge began the first of five days of meetings Monday, the last
run of the Paris torch relay was cancelled following protests. The
disruption came less than a day after demonstrators scuffled with
London police. More problems are expected Wednesday during
the route through San Francisco, the only stop in North America.
Rogge was asked by the president of the European Olympic
Committees to spell out "what athletes can and cannot do" to
express political views during the Beijing Olympics.
Patrick Hickey, head of the 49-member group, met Sunday with
Rogge. The meeting came with the Summer Games four months
away and against a backdrop of last month's riots in Tibet, China's
ties with Sudan and criticism about the government's human rights
record.
"We just want him (Rogge) to tell us straight out where athletes
cannot give their opinion or make demonstrations," Hickey said.
"There will be absolutely no gagging whatsoever of our athletes.
We just want to be absolutely clear, and the only one to hear it
from is the IOC president."
Hickey said Rogge promised to lay out ground rules Thursday
when the IOC executive board meets with ANOC's membership. In
general, athletes are prohibited under the Olympic Charter from
expressing political views while at Olympic venues or from
wearing clothing or other symbols that carry a political message.
"Our athletes are coming under pressure from the media," Hickey
said. "We want to get them out of that pressure by telling them
IOC president Jacques Rogge under pressure as protests hit torch relay
exactly what they can and cannot do. Then they can return to
concentrate on training."
Hickey, an IOC member from Ireland, said there was no talk of a
boycott within the ANOC, which represents 205 national Olympic
committees.
"We are all 100 per cent supporting going to the games," he said.
"There's nobody talking about boycotts, not the slightest. No
boycott of any description."
On Monday, Rogge brought up the issue of boycotts and protests
along the torch relay, but he gave his brief speech after most
Chinese officials had left the dais following opening speeches to
the ANOC general assembly.
"I'm very concerned with the international situation and what's
happening in Tibet," Rogge said. "The torch relay has been
targeted. The International Olympic Committee has expressed its
serious concerns and calls for a rapid, peaceful resolution in
Tibet."
Rogge also tried to quell talk of any kind of boycott.
"Some politicians have played with the idea of boycotts," Rogge
said. "As I speak today, however, there is no momentum for a
generalized boycott."
Mario Vazquez Rana, president of the ANOC, said his group wants
China "to find through dialogue and understanding a fair and
reasonable solution to the internal conflict that affects the Tibet
region."
IOC co-ordination commission member Alex Gilady said he
expected the pressure to ease after the Paris and San Francisco
relay legs.
"The important message is to tell our athletes that some people are
trying to use them and to ride on their backs for solutions that the
world has to find in other places like the United Nations," said
Gilady, also a senior vice president at NBC Sports, which holds the
IOC president Jacques Rogge under pressure as protests hit torch relay
rights to broadcast the Olympics in the U.S.
"I don't think the international torch relay is a good thing because
it's not needed," Gilady added. "But now it's water under the
bridge."
Beijing organizers have been angered and embarrassed by the rude
reception greeting the torch. Though the torch was extinguished in
Paris, this does not mean the Olympic flame was extinguished. The
flame is actually carried in a separate lanternlike device along the
route.
"The general public is very angry at this sabotage by a few
separatists, said Wang Hui, a spokeswoman for the organizing
committee. "We can see that such disruption by a few separatists is
not supported by the people."
© The Canadian Press, 2008