Rings: American Cyclists Apologize Over Masks

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AMERICAN CYCLISTS APOLOGIZE OVER MASKS

Four American cyclists who wore protective respiratory masks as they arrived in Beijing on Tuesday are apologizing for any offense caused by their actions. ‘

“The wearing of protective masks upon our arrival into Beijing was strictly a precautionary measure we as athletes meant to take and was in no way meant to serve as an environmental or political statement,” the American athletes, Michael Friedman, Sarah Hammer, Robert Lea, and Jennie Reed, said in a statement sent to reporters via e-mail yesterday. “We deeply regret the nature of our choices.”

The cyclists said they intended no insult to the Beijing Olympic committee or “countless others who have put forth a tremendous amount of effort to improve the air quality in Beijing.”

The apology was announced at a confusing briefing by U.S. Olympic Committee leaders who denied pressuring the athletes to apologize, but acknowledged that a senior team official met with athletes before they decided to do so in a joint statement released by the committee. U.S. Olympic officials said they thought it was unnecessary to wear the masks, though it was up to each athlete whether to do so. The chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee, Peter Ueberroth, likened the four athletes to guests who had misbehaved at a party, but American officials acknowledged they had provided the masks, which were reportedly designed by a team physiologist, to about one-third of the 596-member American team.

FORMER ‘LOST BOY’ OF SUDAN CHOSEN AS FLAG BEARER

In a sign of solidarity with activists pressuring China over the genocide in Darfur, America’s Olympic athletes have chosen a runner and former refugee from Sudan, Lopez Lomong, to carry the American flag as the team marches into the National Stadium in Beijing tomorrow. Mr. Lomong, who spent 10 years in a refugee camp before coming to America as one of the so-called lost boys of Sudan, is a member of a group of athletes active against the genocide in Darfur, Team Darfur. “The American flag means everything in my life — everything that describes me, coming from another country and going through all of the stages that I have to become a U.S. citizen,” Mr. Lomong, 23, said in a written statement. He was settled with a family in upstate Tully, near Syracuse, before attending college in Arizona.

WHITE HOUSE PROTESTS REVOCATION OF CHEEK’S VISA

The American Embassy in Beijing has protested China’s last-minute decision to revoke a visa it issued several weeks ago to a former Olympian who has organized a group of athletes concerned about the genocide in Darfur, William “Joey” Cheek of Team Darfur.

“We are disturbed to learn that the Chinese had refused his visa,” the White House press secretary, Dana Perino, told reporters as President Bush made his way to Beijing for the opening of the Games. “We are taking the matter very seriously. We have sent in our embassy in Beijing to demarche the Chinese. … We would hope that they would change their mind.”

U.S. Olympic officials offered muted criticism of China’s snub to Mr. Cheek. “Obviously, he’s a great Olympic champion. He’s not part of our delegation,” the CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee, James Scherr, said in response to a question at a news briefing. “It is unfortunate … but I think that’s between the government and Joey as a private citizen who was trying to make his way to these Games.”

After the briefing concluded, the American officials said they had asked the American embassy to look into the situtation.

“We’ve expressed our concern to PRC authorities that American citizen legitimate travelers are being denied permission to travel to China,” an embassy spokesman, Richard Buangan, said.

TIBET PROTESTER HURT IN FALL AT CONSULATE

An activist who rappelled from the roof of the Chinese consulate in San Francisco to stage a mock hanging to protest China’s actions in Tibet was injured yesterday after falling about two stories to a balcony, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Nyendak Wangden, 22, fractured her wrist and radius in the fall, a statement from Students for a Free Tibet said. An individual from the consulate “apparently cut the rope holding Nyendak,” the group said. Consular officials did not respond to a request for comment, the newspaper said.

Josh Gerstein in Beijing


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