The only female athlete on Afghanistan’s Olympic team, Mehboba Ahdyar, has disappeared from a training camp in Italy and apparently will not take part in the Games in Beijing next month, the Associated Press reported. An International Olympic Committee spokeswoman said Ms. Ahdyar, 19, may have gone to Norway to seek political asylum. “The IOC accepts that athletes sometimes feel they have to make hard choices to improve their lives,” the spokeswoman, Emmanuelle Moreau, told the AP. “It would appear this is what happened in this case. … She’s gone missing”

An Afghan Olympic official, Sayed Dashti, insisted that the runner was skipping the Games because she injured herself. “Her family in Italy is taking care of her,” he said, according to the wire.

Ms. Ahdyar and her family have been the target of repeated threats from religious fundamentalists who oppose women’s participation in sports.

CHINA: 82 OLYMPIC SABOTEURS JAILED

Officials in the region home to most of China’s Muslim population have detained 82 “suspected terrorists” this year for allegedly plotting to sabotage the Beijing Olympics, China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua, reported yesterday. Police also said they destroyed 41 “training bases for holy war,” the dispatch said.

On Wednesday, authorities in the Xinjiang region said they raided a hideout of jihadists in the local capital, Urumqi, killing five in a shootout, injuring two, and arresting another eight. In a statement last week, China and five other nations vowed vigilance against any attack on the Olympics. “Any actions and activities plotted to disrupt the Games would not enjoy popular support and would damage the interests of all peoples around the world,” the communiqué from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan said.

RICE WILL ATTEND CLOSING CEREMONIES

Secretary of State Rice will represent America at the closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, a State Department spokesman said yesterday. Ms. Rice also aims to attend some sporting events in the Games’ final days, the spokesman, Sean McCormack, said. Despite calls for world leaders to boycott the opening ceremonies to protest China’s record on human rights, President Bush is planning to attend them and some of the early events.

HEALTH ADVOCATES STUNG BY PRE-OLYMPIC CRACKDOWN

A prominent crusader for more help for Chinese suffering from Hepatitis B, Lu Jun, says he is being muzzled by government officials eager to rein in dissent in advance of the Olympics. His popular Web site was blocked in May and he was questioned for four hours recently after returning from a trip to Los Angeles for a conference. “Everyone believes it’s because of the Olympics,” Mr. Lu told the Associated Press. “These are negative things and they don’t want to lose face during the Olympics.”

Advocates for people with AIDS, migrant workers, and even petitioners with personal grievances are also reporting increased surveillance, the AP said.

CHINA SAYS FRENCH WELCOME AT OLYMPICS

On the eve of the Olympics, Chinese officials seem to be trying to tamp down a wave of anti-foreigner fervor the government’s state-run press helped set off in April after the Olympic Torch encountered protests in Paris, San Francisco, and elsewhere. Much of the public anger was directed at France and some Chinese-proposed boycotts of a French-owned warehouse-style retailer prominent in China, Carrefour. A statement by President Sarkozy of France that he might skip the opening ceremonies to protest China’s policies in Tibet only fanned the flames, though he recently back off of that threat.

A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said yesterday that French nationals will be warmly welcomed for next month’s Games. “We know that Chinese people enjoy a tradition of hospitality,” the spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said. “I believe the Chinese people, when it comes to foreign leaders citizens and athletes, will treat them with sincerity and hospitality.”