The Beijing Olympics are upon us and various nations and their athletes have taken the T-shirt route to expressing their views of the Chinese Government.  Germany, since the 1940s, has had some of the most outspoken Olympic participants and this year they have strong feelings about human rights in China.

1. One group of German athletes has designed and promoted wristbands that say Sports for Human Rights, with proceeds going to Amnesty International

2. Yvonne Bönisch, gold medal judo winner in 2004, is boycotting the opening ceremony to protest human rights violations in Tibet

3. During a send-off for the German Olympic team at the weekend, the German Olympic Sports Confederation was presented with T-shirts with slogans ranging from ‘Fair Games’ to ‘Sport for Human Rights’, ‘Free Tibet’ and even ‘Free China’! They were donated by former German athletes, including Dieter Baumann, 5,000 metres gold medal winner at Barcelona Games in 1992, and the sprinter Ines Geipel.

Australia’s Olympic team also seems to have a large percentage of athletes concerned about Tibet.  

1. More than 33% of the team declared in a poll that they wanted China to withdraw from Tibet
2. Tour de France cyclist Cadel Evans, who will compete at the Beijing Games, sported a ‘Free Tibet’ T-shirt during a race in Belgium earlier this year and he wore the same provocative T-shirt under the yellow jersey worn only by leaders in the Tour de France, when he won stage 15 of this year’s race. He finished second for the second time, but didn’t wear his T-shirt onto the winner’s rostrum.

Cadel Evans courtesy of midge 

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