Dawn Fraser Boycotts Oympics in Protest
SYDNEY—Australian Olympic legend Dawn Fraser will make her own protest over China's treatment of Tibet, refusing to attend the Beijing Games in August.
It will be only the second Olympic Games the four-times gold medallist has not attended since making her Olympic debut in Melbourne, in 1956.
"As a spectator, I am making my own statement by not going," Fraser told AAP.
"I support the Tibetans (but) I don't support the violence that the protesters are creating.
"It's a shame it's taken place during the torch relay but I don't think it will dampen the Olympic spirit at all," she said.
China should also never have been awarded the right to host the Games on account of their human rights record, she said.
"Mainly because of the human rights and what they've done to Tibet.
"When you hear the Tibetans tell their terrible stories about what the Chinese Government has done to them, and what their forces have done to them, it is just awful."
The future of the international Olympic torch relay is now in doubt after pro-Tibetan demonstrators shadowed the Olympic torch relay as it progressed through Europe, violently clashing with police and officials on the streets of London and Paris this week.
Local interest in the Games will remain strong even if the International Olympic Committee cuts the torch relay short, Fraser said.
"Here in Australia we are sport mad and we will watch the Olympics (on television) whatever happens in China," she said.
ACT Tibetan Community Says Protests will be Peaceful
CANBERRA—Australia's Tibetan community has vowed not to do anything violent when the Olympic torch passes through Canberra later this month.
Pro-Tibetan protesters have disrupted the torch relay on the London and Paris legs, prompting Beijing Games officials and security forces to take extraordinary measures to protect the flame and runners.
Tsering Deki, a spokeswoman from the ACT Tibet community, said local Tibetans were planning "a non-violent peaceful protest" in Canberra on April 24.
"As his holiness the Dali Lama has always advocated peace and non-violence," she told the Nine Network.
Ted Quinlan, chairman of the Torch Relay Taskforce, has called on other protesters to follow the Tibetan community's lead.
"We don't deny anyone the right to peaceful protest," he told the Nine Network.
"What we are asking is that those people (who) go and support the Tibetan community also to honour the Tibetan wishes that it (the protest) be peaceful."
Mr Quinlan said the Canberra leg of the relay should be about celebrating "the unifying Olympic spirit, and also Australia and Canberra."
"We intend to put on a show that goes beyond the running of the relay itself and we do hope that a lot of people come out and really enjoy the day."
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