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Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar has reportedly announced that he would not participate in the Indian leg of the Olympic torch relay. Football player Baichung Bhutia, Magsaysay Awardee Kiran Bedi and Bollywood actor Soha Ali Khan have also turned down the invitation of the Indian Olympic Association to carry the Olympic torch.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made ahead of the arrival of the Olympic torch from Islamabad later on Wednesday. The National Security Guard will guard the Olympic torch during its three-kilometer relay from Sansad Marg to the National Stadium. China had earlier requested that its elite China Red Guards commandos be allowed to accompany the flame, but India turned it down.

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India in Olympics

India first participated in Olympics in 1900 in Paris. The country was represented by Norman Pritchard, an Anglo Indian who was holidaying in Paris during that time. He bagged two silver medals in 200m. dash and 200m hurdles. Then after a gap of 20 years India again participated with two athletes in 1920 Antwerp Olympics and with eight members in 1924 Paris Olympics.

But the more organised, official representation by India, was made in 1928 Amsterdam, with the formation of Indian Olympic Association in 1927. Dorabji Tata was the first president and Dr A C Northern of Young Men’s Christian Association, Madras was the secretary. That year, Indian Hockey team participated in their first Olympic hockey event and won the gold medal under the captaincy of Jaipal Singh. For the next 6 successive Olympics spanning 28 years from 1928-1956, Indians retained their gold medal for the hockey event. Hockey wizard Dhyan Chand played a major role in Indian victory in the first three successive wins. It was definitely the golden era of Indian Hockey in Olympics, during which India played 24 matches and won all 24, scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7 goals. India again won two more gold medals in Olympic hockey in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

In athletics, six Indians and the 4×400 women’s relay team have reached the finals of their events in Olympics. They are Norman Pritchard in 1900 (two silvers in sprint and hurdles), Henry Rebello in 1948 London (Triple Jump), Milkha Singh 1960 Rome ( fourth place in 400 metres), Gurbachan Singh Randhawa 1964 Tokyo (fifth place in 100 m hurdles), Sriram singh 1976 Montreal ( seventh in 800m), P.T Usha in 1984 Los Angeles ( fourth in 400m hurdles) who unfortunately lost her bronze by 1/100th of a second and the 4 member squad of the 400m. women’s relay P.T.Usha, M.D.Valsamma, Vandana Rao, Shiny Abraham reached seventh place, the same year.

Apart from Hockey and a few fine performances in athletics, India’s record in the Olympics paints a dismal picture, for a country having a population of over a billion people. Apart from the 8 gold medals, one silver medal and two bronzes in Hockey, two silver medals in athletics, India has won bronzes for wrestling ( Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav 1952 Helsinki), shooting ( Dr Karni Singh 1964 Tokyo), tennis ( Leander Paes 1996 Atlanta) and weightlifting ( Karnam Malleswari 2000 Sydney).

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There is a fascinating link between Greece and India, which stretches back to 975 BC. The zest for chariot racing and wrestling was common to both the countries. In the day and age of the Rig-Veda, Ramayana and Mahabharata men of stature and circumstance were expected to be competent in chariot-racing, archery, horsemanship, military tactics, wrestling, weight-lifting, swimming and hunting. Tiruvedacharya describes many fascinating games, in his Villas Mani Majra namely, archery, hammer throwing and chariot racing. In Manas Olhas (1135 AD), Someshwar writes about bhrashram (weight lifting), bhramanshram (walking) and also about Mall-Stambha (wrestling). In the Mahabharatha, there is a mention of athletic competitions held between the Pandavas and Kauravas, which were held in public, amidst the city of Hastinapura.

The Olympics, after being dormant for nearly 1500 years, was revived in the later half of the 19th century. In 1852, the Olympia Temple ruins, where the ancient games took place, were evacuated. The idea of the revival of Olympic games was the logical culmination of a great movement. The 19th century saw the taste for physical exercises revive everywhere. At the same time the great inventions, the railways and the telegraph have abridged distances and mankind had come to live a new existence; the peoples have intermingled, they have learned to know each other better and immediately they started to compare themselves.

The Greek sports values were revived and it influenced Charles Louis de Feddy of France, more popularly known as Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He summoned a sports congress on July 23, 1894,and presented his proposal for the return of the Olympic games. The 12 officials from different countries present were so thrilled that they immediately scheduled the first edition of the Modern Olympic Games to take place in Athens in 1896. Although Baron Pierre de Coubertin is known as the father of modern Olympics, there were other attempts too, to bring back the games, earlier. It was decided to have the Games each 4 years in the city of Pyrgos. A wealthy Greek Evangelos Zappas, who started the Zappian Olympic Games, undertook another more successful attempt. There were four editions of the games, in the years of 1859, 1870, 1875 and 1889 with prize money for all winners.

An Olympiad is a period of four successive years. The Olympic games celebrate each Olympiad. For the modern Olympic games, the first Olympiad celebration was in 1896. Every four years celebrates another Olympiad; thus, even the Games that were cancelled (1916, 1940, and 1944) count as Olympiads. The 2004 Olympic games in Athens was called the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad.

In 1960, the Winter Olympic Games were held in Squaw Valley, California (United States). In order to impress the spectators, Walt Disney was head of the committee that organized the opening day ceremonies. The 1960 Winter Games Opening Ceremony was filled with high school choirs and bands, releasing of thousands of balloons, fireworks, ice statues, releasing of 2,000 white doves, and national flags dropped by parachute. The winter Olympic games were also held in 1924, beginning a tradition of holding them a few months earlier and in a different city than the summer Olympic Games. Beginning in 1994, the winter Olympic games were held in completely different years (two years apart) than the summer Games.

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New Delhi set to welcome Olympic flame

China should not have any doubts about India’s efforts in securing safe passage to the Olympic flame; there is no diplomatic ambiguity about it. This was the point emphasised by Indian Olympics Association President Suresh Kalmadi at a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.

At the press conference, Kalmadi highlighted the government’s resolve to not only maintain law and order during the torch relay but showed India’s total support to China’s gigantic efforts for the Olympics.

Dozens of Chinese officers from Beijing are in New Delhi along with the media crew.

The IOA has left no one in doubt that success of the torch relay has become a prestige issue for them.

"Hindustan ka mamla hai, (it is India’s concern)," said Randhir Singh, IOA secretary general told rediff.com.

IOA claims Thursday will be a red letter day.

Kalamdi said, "The torch is sacred and we will protect it."

Dismissing concerns on security and excessive policing, he said Tibetans could protest but not where the torch relay ceremony was being held.

Tibetan protests are a serious security concern, but the might of India’s security establishment is at work, as well.

Tibetan immigrants’ fury against Chinese actions on Tibetans in Lhasa has made things so difficult for India that Kalmadi could not even announce the exact time of the torch relay.

All he said was that "it will happen sometime in the afternoon."

Neither could he reveal when the torch will arrive from Islamabad nor could he tell the media where will be ’sacred" torch will be kept in New Delhi.

Kalmadi also ruled out the participation of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in the ceremony.

But, despite little absurd realties, due to excessive security arrangements, the IOA president was looking pleased with the ’line-up’ for the relay, which comprises some of the best sporting talent of the country.

Leander Paes , P T Usha and Anju Bobby George provided the glamour and status necessary at the press conference. The trio tried to inject the much-needed enthusiasm while giving television bytes.

The Indian government, with its experience of tackling Kashmiris, Khalistanis, jihadis, Maoists and all shades of rebels on the Indian streets, has created a sanitized zone between the entry point of Rashtrapati Bhawan and India Gate where the torch relay will take place.

One visit to the place shows men in uniform in every nook and corner of the area.

At the starting point and at time of termination of the torch relay, only invited people will be allowed, but, Kalmadi claimed that people could see the torch en route. However, the route is barricaded from both sides and only a handful of uninvited people would be able to see the actual relay.

The Traffic Police has already announced the restriction to traffic in and around India Gate on Thursday.

The government claims they will let Tibetans make ’anti-China’ protests, but they will not be allowed to come near the route of the torch relay.

It seems that the entire event may be over in less than two hours, may be quicker than that. More than 70 sportsmen and sportswomen will run with the torch on the route, stretching up to two kilometres. Hardly a couple of minutes will be given to an individual player. Not more than 500 people have been invited to the ceremony.

Kalmadi claimed that a number of sports people were keen on taking part in the event, but because of restrictions they had not been invited.

Without spelling out much Kalmadi treaded carefully in the press conference, which was ’the biggest’ he has ever addressed. He said the entire world was watching and one of the greatest shows of torch relay should be in India.

"The torch must be held high," he said.

According to Usha, "I am a sportswoman. Olympics is dream come true for any sportswoman. We would love to participate. Let us participate."

Commander Nandy Singh, veteran of the gold medal-winning 1948 and 1952, told rediff.com, "Since the days of Israel-Palestine conflict, world has changed. I agree with the Tibetan cause but the issue of Olympics to be held by China and the issue of Tibet’s freedom can not be mixed. Protestors should have done all these protests when IOC awarded Olympics to China four years ago. These days the fun of Olympics has gone."

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US Olympians began speaking out Monday about China’s recent crackdown in Tibet and links to Darfur and other human rights issues, some predicting possible podium protests at the Beijing Olympics.

"There will be protests but I don’t think it will brand the Games," said 2004 bronze medal wrestler Patricia Miranda said. "I would have said no a month ago but the fact the protests started so early caught me off guard.

"I would say the protests are going to be smart, not just not showing up."

More than 125 US Olympians gathered here to speak with reporters from around the world just days after protests during the global Olympic torch tour that sparked notions of world boycotts or at least spurning the opening ceremonies.

"That’s up to President Bush and the other world leaders. They are able to make that decision," said gold medal softball outfielder Jessica Mendoza, who admitted she has pondered a podium protest.

"I thought about that. I guess we will just have to see. First we have to win the gold to get that 15 minutes of fame. If we get that we’ll have to see."

Protesters in London, Paris and San Francisco disrupted the torch relay. IOC president Jacques Rogge termed the mess a "crisis" and spoke of China’s moral engagement to push for change even as the government cracks down.

"The Olympics are about bringing people together. It’s not about making the Olympics something you can use as a political tool," 2004 Olympic all-around men’s gymnastics champion Paul Hamm said.

"What’s going on is important. We should pay attention to it. If you want to bring politics into the Olympics, let politicians do that. We’re athletes. I’m trying to educate myself on the issues, develop an opinion."

Miranda, whose Brazilian father and late Japanese mother fought Brazilian military rule in 1960s, praised the 1968 Olympic medal podium raised-fight protest of Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos.

"That was an effective use of their position," Miranda said. "I’m not leaning toward actually protesting during an Olympic ceremony. I think I will go with the IOC recommendation on that.

"I feel a duty (to speak out) because I’m going to benefit, especially when I hear them taking over homes (for the Games). The genocide in Darfur, where China has a connection, I’d say the genocide is more important."

Mendoza advocates the quiet diplomacy of talk among athletes as a catalyst to change even as she educates teammates and foes, saying, "In a way ignorance is bliss. Sometimes I’m jealous of how happy they are."

"It’s not my place to tell China what to do. It’s my place to let people know what’s happening so they will hold people accountable for what they do," Mendoza said.

"Everything that has happened in Darfur - 400,000 people killed since 2003, the women being raped, millions of children with nowhere to call home - pulls at my heart."

Mixing social responsibility with sporting success in China is a difficult blend for athletes powerless to impose change yet potentially with the world’s attention come August.

"You do overhear what’s going on," 2007 world all-around women’s gymnastics champion Shawn Johnson said. "You can’t do anything with our power to change it so you learn to live with it. We’re focused on our training right now."

"If there needs to be change in the world, it needs to be more than putting a torch in the water," US women’s soccer captain Kate Markgraf said.

"We’re in a tough spot. We are socially minded individuals. We understand why people are using this as a platform for change. We see that. We understand there are big distractions. There are problems out there."

Added teammate Heather O’Reilly: "Are we human? Do we have consciousness in our minds and hearts? Yes. We hope to make change. We hope to bring the world together. But that’s a lot to ask of an athlete.

"Winning the gold medal is where we can speak the loudest, by representing our country in the best way possible."

Several athletes noted the US Olympic Committee has stressed athletes should express their feelings.

Michelle Hong, the Chinese mother of US gymnast Ivana Hong, and 93 others fled Vietnam at age 15 in a tiny boat, nearly starving and being forced back by soldiers until the Hong Kong-bound escapees found refuge in Thailand.

"I want all the issues to be resolved in a peaceful way and satisfactorily for both sides," she said. "I just don’t want anybody killed."

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It is too late to boycott the Beijing Olympics

In a sense, the whole row is six-and-a-half years too late. There were strong arguments against awarding the 2008 Olympics to Beijing in the first place. China practises internal autocracy and external aggression. Not only has it refused to recant its crushing of the 1989 protests; it also continues to incarcerate some of those involved. It represses its religious minorities, including Christians and Muslims as well as the Falun Gong sect. It maintains its occupation of Tibet and its claim on Taiwan. It props up a series of nasty African dictatorships, including Sudan. None of these things was less true in 2001 than today, which is why this newspaper opposed Beijing’s candidacy at the time.

Still, we are where we are. The International Olympics Committee, for better or for worse, made its decision. Six months to go before the Games begin is a curious time to place the question of a boycott on the table. It says something about our political culture that the debate should have been catalysed, not by any elected representative, but by a film director. Apparently stung by criticism that he would be "the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games", a reference to the propagandist film-maker of the 1936 Olympics, Steven Spielberg resigned as the Games’ artistic adviser. Mr Spielberg is colossally famous, and his decision prompted calls for others to follow suit, even for entire nations to withdraw their teams. Yet the issue is a quixotic one. God knows terrible atrocities are being committed in Darfur, both by government-friendly forces and by rebel militia. But these crimes are primarily the responsibility of their perpetrators, not the Chinese. Those who want to criticise Beijing would be on firmer ground if they concentrated on what the Chinese were doing in their own country.

Dozens of states are guilty either of domestic human rights violations or of foreign belligerence or both. If we boycotted each one, our sportsmen would find half the world barred to them, and we should barely export any goods. Boycotts should be reserved for major violations of the world order: the invasion of another country, for example. (Several states withdrew from the 1956 Games in protest against Suez or the attack on Hungary; more still boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics because of the occupation of Afghanistan.) The Olympics have never quite lived up to their ideal as a symbol of peace and international brotherhood. From the start, there was gamesmanship, commercialisation, cheating and one-upmanship. But, for all that, they represent something worth celebrating: a common endeavour whereby athletes from every country compete under agreed rules and accept the results. There needs to be a bigger reason for walking out on them.

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West must boycott Beijing Olympics

There is more blood on the hands of the leaders of the Burmese junta, and on those of the unelected leaders of communist China who back them, than on the feet of those humble monks who want nothing more than the freedom in Burma that we in the West take for granted.

The Chinese regime that backs the Burmese despots cares nothing for human rights.

They have their eyes trained on the potential for building lucrative gas and oil pipelines across their neighbouring dictatorship.

Politicians in the West, hoping that China will exert its influence to rein in the generals, overlook the fact that China is also an authoritarian state.

Like the Burmese junta, it has suppressed pro-democracy demos, killing, maiming or imprisoning unknown thousands.

Business people from many of the nations that condemn the undemocratic Burmese system are jetting to China to close multi-billion pound, euro and dollar deals that are completely outside any ethical consideration of human rights violations and ongoing state repression.

They clink champagne glasses with people whose concept of morality differs little from that of the bureaucrats who administered Hitler’s Final Solution.

Those of us who enjoy the fruits of freedom need to speak out on Burma’s behalf.

We need to send a clear signal to the dictatorship and China that we don’t do business with mass-murdering megalomaniacs.

In 1936, Western nations saw nothing wrong with facilitating the Third Reich by sending athletes to participate in the Berlin Olympics.

We now realise how wrong that was. But we have no excuse when it comes to deciding how to approach the forthcoming Beijing Olympics, which will be a PR bonanza for the dictators of the 21st century.

It must be boycotted for the sake of the oppressed millions of Burma, China and Tibet.

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Obama urges Bush Beijing boycott

Barack Obama has urged US President George W Bush to consider a boycott of the
opening of the Beijing Olympics unless China’s rights record improves.

The Democratic presidential hopeful made his call a day after a similar appeal by his rival, Hillary Clinton.

The US stage of the Olympic torch relay passed off amid confusion and tight security in San Francisco on Wednesday.

The route was changed at the last minute and the closing ceremony took place on a motorway fly-over.

Throughout the route, the torch-bearers were immersed in a cocoon of security, surrounded by dozens of police officers and track-suited Chinese guards.

The Olympic flame was lit in Greece on 24 March and is being relayed through 20 countries before being carried into the opening ceremony in Beijing on 8 August.

Demonstrators sought to disrupt the torch relay in Athens, Istanbul, Paris and London, while it passed successfully through Almaty, in Kazakhstan, and St Petersburg, in Russia.

It is due to arrive in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, later this week.

However, the International Olympic Committee is meeting in Beijing to consider calling off the rest of the torch’s 136,788-km (85,000-mile) journey.

Dalai Lama to speak

Mr Obama said President Bush should boycott the opening ceremony if China failed to take steps to improve human rights in Tibet or help to end the alleged genocide in Darfur, in Sudan.

"A boycott of the opening ceremonies should be firmly on the table but this decision should be made closer to the Games [in August]," he said in a statement.

Speaking on Tuesday, Mrs Clinton said Mr Bush should not attend the ceremony without "major changes by the Chinese government" over Tibet and Darfur.

The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a motion condemning China’s "extreme" response to protests in Tibet.

Mr Bush himself called on the Chinese government to begin a dialogue with the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama, who is due in Tokyo en route to the US, is expected to give his reaction to the torch protests at a news conference shortly.

A spokeswoman for UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would not be attending the opening ceremonies, and had never intended to do so. However, he will be at the closing ceremony.

Whisked away

Thousands of spectators had been waiting hours to see the torch pass through San Francisco and demonstrators were out in force along the waterfront relay route.

But immediately after the torch was lit, the torch-bearers turned into a warehouse building, disappearing for an hour.

They reappeared at a new starting-point across the city where it was handed to two runners, away from the protesters.

The planned waterfront closing ceremony in Justin Herman Plaza was moved to a motorway fly-over.

"We assessed the situation and felt that we could not secure the torch and protect the protesters and supporters to the degree that we wished," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told Reuters news agency.

In Paris, the torch had to be extinguished three times, while in London there were 37 arrests.

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Gordon Brown appears to have solved the dilemma on whether to join fellow Western leaders in boycotting the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics: he has decided that he was never going to go in the first place.

Downing Street "confirmed" last night that the Prime Minister did not plan to attend the ceremony on August 8. Like Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and, possibly, President Bush, he will be staying away.

Unlike his peers, however, he will not be boycotting the ceremony in protest against the Chinese crackdown in Tibet. A Downing Street spokeswoman said that Mr Brown had never said that he would go. "There is no change in our position," she said.

Having accepted an invitation during a visit to China in January, Mr Brown will be in Beijing 16 days later, for the closing ceremony when London picks up the Olympic baton from the 2008 hosts.
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For Mr Brown’s critics, however, it was either a fudge – or a gold medal U-turn.

Downing Street said that Mr Brown’s spokesman had made his position clear during a lobby briefing on March 19 but it was overshadowed by the news that he was planning to meet the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s long-exiled spiritual leader.

Mr Brown was less clear, however, during President Sarkozy’s recent state visit and at a Downing Street press conference last week, when he was asked about the French leader’s boycott threat. He said: "I think President Sarkozy said himself that he expected Britain, because we are going to host the next Olympics, to be present at the Olympic ceremonies and I will certainly be there."

The problem is that Mr Brown may be seen to have snubbed the Chinese, who reportedly expected him at both the opening and closing ceremonies, although Downing Street said today that he had spoken directly to the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao about his travel plans.

The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said last night that No 10 should have made the situation clear in the first place.

He told the BBC: "Chancellor Merkel in Germany and President Sarkozy in France saying quite specifically that they might not go to the opening ceremony shows that the debate has always been about the opening ceremony.

"So now suddenly to be asked to believe by No 10 that they never really intended to go in the first place either smacks of a rather odd way of going about things or just downright incompetence."

Curiously, as the global torch relay ahead of the Beijing Games was dogged by protests, the only international voice raised in support of the Chinese was that of the Dalai Lama.

Starting his first foreign trip since unrest broke out in Tibet on the 49th anniversary of the failed uprising that sent him into exile in India, the Dalai Lama said that he had personally urged the Tibetan community to respect the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco.

Speaking to reporters on a brief stopover in Japan, he jokingly put his fingers over his head in the shape of a devil’s horns and said: “I really feel sad the government there almost demonises me. But it’s OK. I’m just a human being - hopefully not a demon."

He added "Some people create (the) impression we are anti-Chinese. So I make an appeal to Chinese brothers and sisters all over the world, particularly in mainland China - firstly we are not anti-Chinese."

The Dalai Lama repeated that he was not seeking independence for Tibet but autonomy and cultural freedoms within China for the Buddhist Himalayan territory.

“I support the Chinese host for the world game because China is the most populous nation, ancient nation,” the Dalai Lama said, adding that the Chinese "really deserve” the Olympics.

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Free Tibet Campaign urging public figures to stay away

Prince Charles won’t be going to Beijing in August. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The Prince of Wales’ decision not to attend the Beijing Olympics is being used as the launchpad for an international campaign to persuade public figures to boycott the games.

Prince Charles has confirmed to the London-based Free Tibet Campaign that he has no plans to attend the opening ceremony in the Chinese capital. The Prince has not received a formal invitation but has recently been courted by the Chinese Ambassador in London in a bid to improve relations.

Prince Charles’ public support for the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s independent spiritual leader, and his disparaging remarks about Chinese officials at the handover of Hong Kong have been a public embarrassment for Beijing. In leaked diaries, written during in 1997, the Prince notoriously referred to senior Chinese officials as "appalling old waxworks".

The Free Tibet Campaign, which opposes the Chinese occupation of the Himalyan country, is not calling for athletes to stay away from the summer’s Olympics. But it is hoping to encourage public figures to declare that they will stay away in protest at human rights abuses and China’s refusal to grant Tibet independence.

"We are not calling for any sort of boycott by the athletes, they have been training for years," said Anne Holmes, director of the Free Tibet Campaign. "What we would like to see is as many as possible high profile public figures making a principled decision to stop at home - and watch it on TV. We would hope this would include Gordon Brown, who has been invited to go back to Beijing for the Olympics. We can’t say what Prince Charles is thinking but Clarence House [the Prince’s London residence] has written back to us to confirm that he is still very friendly towards Tibet."

The Prince has met the Dalai Lama several times. In a letter to the campaign, Clive Alderton, his deputy private secretary, confirmed the Prince would not attend the opening ceremony. "As you know, His Royal Highness has long taken a close interest in Tibet and indeed has been pleased to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama on several occasions," he wrote. "You asked if the Prince of Wales would be attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. His Royal Highness will not be attending the ceremony."

Publication of the letter is likely to be regretted by the government, which has attempted to build strong economic and cultural ties with the China. A spokeswoman for Clarence House told The Guardian yesterday: "There are no current plans for [the Prince] to go to the Olympics. As a rule he doesn’t attend. He went when the Princess Royal was competing in Montreal in 1976. The Prince of Wales … takes an interest in the siuation in Tibet and he hopes as long term peaceful solution will be reached after some dialogue."

Both Princess Anne, who is president of the British Olympic Association, and Prince Edward are likely to go to Beijing.

Last month Tibetan exiles failed to convince the International Olympic Committee that they should allow their athletes to compete as an independent national team under the title ’Team Tibet’. The country has been occupied by Chinese troops since 1950.

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