"Gray Area" Questions to Athletes Shouldn't Be Censored, IOC Says
by Josh Gerstein
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 at 3:02 AM
Journalists should not be barred from asking Olympic athletes questions which verge into a "gray zone" combining sport and politics, the director of communications for the International Olympic Committee, Giselle Davies, said at a briefing for reporters on Monday.
"Clearly in this room and...in others there can be questions put which are in that gray zone. No one's trying here to have any form of censorship," Ms. Davies said in response to a question from The New York Sun.
On Wednesday, with military conflict raging between Russia and Georgia, a moderator at a press conference for Judo champions announced that only "sport specific" questions could be put to the gold medal winner from Georgia, Irakli Tsirekidze. Journalists attempted to ask if Tsirekidze wanted to send a message "back home" with his victory, but the moderator, Felicity Byrnes, rejected the question. After some protest, the question was put to the athlete. A translator said Tsirekidze didn't want to answer, but later the Georgian said the win was important for his country "at this moment."
Last week, a top official with the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, Wang Wei, defended the decision to police the questions put to athletes. "I think I understand why the M.C. would not encourage questions like Russia-Georgia to happen, because if it starts a debate, it will not end up very happily. It will upset the Olympic spirit here," he said. He cited provisions in the Olympic Charter which bar religious and political propaganda at Olympic venues.
However, Ms. Davies said today the moderator may have been overzealous. "I think we're talking about human beings trying to do their jobs running press venues and so on and so forth and possibly sometimes taking the letter of what's understood a little bit too precisely," she said. "Of course, we want the focus on the sport because that's what this event is all about but if there are questions that verge into that gray area, as long as it's done respectfully and the athlete isn't under any feeling of discomfort and wishes to respond, then that shouldn't be a problem."
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