Standing up and speaking out
Good for former Canadian Olympic swimmers Shannon Shakespeare and Nikki Dryden, who delivered an open letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Chinese Mission to the United Nations today. I've written about this before , but in my mind, politics are inextricably linked with sport, and it's far too late to pull them out now. Kudos to Shakespeare and Dryden for taking a stand on an important issue using their athletic status: I'd much rather see that than just another ad for sneakers or Gatorade. This also shows the futility of the Belgian Olympic Committee trying to impose a "gag order" on their athletes. As James Christie's Globe and Mail story linked above points out, the IOC already has relegations to allow athletes freedom of speech while at the same time ensuring the entire games don't become about politics: attempts by individual organizations to try and clamp down even harder are over the top. It was also nice to see Steven Spielberg back out ...