Sport

Is China an “inappropriate government” to host Olympics?

Published

2 years ago

December 1, 2021

Brittany Coles

Human Rights Watch has accused the International Olympic Committee of being complicit in China’s rights abuses ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games

@SophieHRW
China Director @hrw

This follows the IOC president’s call with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai.

Peng disappeared for nearly three weeks after alleging on social media that China’s former Vice-Premier had sexually assaulted her, and since that time, nobody has been able to speak independently to her and all of her messages have been mediated through Chinese government run media, and or the International Olympic Committee.

"To see the IOC participate in an exercise that could only have happened with Chinese officials permission, is really quite distressing"@SophieHRW China Director @hrw on a senior Olympic official defending #IOC efforts to confirm the safety of Peng Shuai #WhereIsPengShuai pic.twitter.com/4HdH80G5ZQ
— ticker NEWS (@tickerNEWSco) November 30, 2021

Sophie Richardson is the Human Rights Watch China director and says there is something bigger at play here, while concerns grow about Peng’s wellbeing.

“I think will believe it when she is able to say that herself freely and directly. I mean, let’s recall that this is the government that says that everyone in the Uyghur region or Xinjiang western region of China is happy and fine, up to an including the millions of people who have been arbitrarily detained for months at a time,” Richardson told ticker NEWS.

“It’s the government that regularly refers to the Dalai Lama as a terrorist. So really to take only the Chinese government’s word for it, or a deeply vested body like the IOC is problematic.”

There have been repeated calls for the upcoming Olympic games to be boycotted.

Richardson says the statistics of sexual abuse in China are disturbing and it’s not just for famous athletes.

“One fear is that what happens to these allegations is what happens to a lot of allegations about sexual violence and harassment inside China, which is that they’re ignored,” she said.

“A recent government report suggested that one in every four women in China is subjected at some point in her life to domestic violence,

“Yet there are very few prosecutions of that there’s only a law about domestic violence until relatively recently. This is enormously problematic.”

Richardson says Peng’s story is going to persist through the games in February as one of the examples, not just the Chinese government’s brutality towards individuals, even famous people like star athletes, but also why it is “just an inappropriate government to host an Olympic Games. Absolutely.”

What is the Human Rights Watch doing to support?

Richardson says the organisation is certainly going to keep leaning on the IOC to reveal what it knows about the origins of that call and the circumstances.

“But we’ve also called on the top sponsors of the games, the companies that literally pay for the games, to do their own human rights due diligence to explain how their sponsorship doesn’t contribute to problems,” she said.

“We’ve called on governments to engage in a diplomatic boycott of the games, because the last thing that trainees officialdom needs right now is a greater imprimatur of legitimacy, particularly from democratic governments.”

Sport

Rafa Nadal pulls out of French Open

Published

4 months ago

May 19, 2023

ticker NEWS, Brittany Coles

The Spaniard has failed to regain full fitness from a hip injury sustained earlier this year

Rafa Nadal has delivered news that no tennis fan wanted to hear.

The King of Clay will miss the French Open after failing to regain full fitness from a hip injury suffered at the Australian Open back in January.

The 14-time Roland Garros winner says he expects to retire following the 2024 season.

Nadal has dominated the clay court season for close to two decades.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion fronted a widely anticipated press conference at his tennis academy in Mallorca to drop the bombshell, saying its the right thing to do for his body and personal happiness.

“I’ll look to be 100% ready for next year, which I believe will be the last year of my professional career,” Nadal told a news conference at his tennis academy in Mallorca, Spain.

“The evolution of the injury I sustained in Australia has not gone as I would have liked. I have lost goals along the way, and Roland Garros becomes impossible.”

“I’ll not establish a date for my return. I’ll see how my body responds and take it from there,” said the 36-year-old. “If I keep playing at this moment, I don’t think I can be there next year.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back in the highest level and compete for Grand Slams. What I will try to do is to give myself the opportunity to go back to what could be my final year competing at the highest level.”

Sport

China expresses concerns about ‘politicisation of sports’

Published

5 months ago

May 8, 2023

ticker NEWS

The East Asian nation raised the issue when Premier Li met with the head of the IOC, Thomas Bach

China has expressed concerns to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) about the politicisation of sporting events.

The issue was raised when Chinese Premier Li Qiang met Thomas Bach, the head of the IOC, in Beijing over the weekend.

“China’s efforts to promote the Olympic spirit will never cease, and [China is] ready to work with IOC to oppose the politicisation of sports, and make further contributions to the Olympic movement,” Li said.

It is rare for China to raise such concerns with the IOC in public, and it was the first time it had made such comments since the Winter Olympics in Beijing early last year.

The United States and several of its allies took part in a diplomatic boycott of the Games, citing alleged human rights abuse in China’s far west region of Xinjiang.

Beijing has repeatedly denied the accusation and said it opposes any attempts to politicise sporting events.

Sport

Tasmanian AFL team becomes reality

Published

5 months ago

May 3, 2023

ticker NEWS

Tasmania will have a team in the AFL after all 18 current teams agreed to the motion

An exciting day for residents of the Australian state of Tasmania today.

Outgoing AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan confirming Tasmania has been granted the league’s 19th licence.

It follows the nation’s federal government confirming it will cover the $240 million shortfall to fund a new multi-purpose stadium at Macquarie Point.

This has long been viewed as Tasmania’s most significant hurdle for entry into the league.

All 18 clubs supported the state’s bid, before the AFL Commission agreed to a formal ratification.

McLachlan fronted a press conference at North Hobart Oval, alongside Premier Jeremy Rockliff, Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles and a whole host of players.

The CEO says the decision “will finally make [the] competitions truly national”. #trending #featured