News-Record.com

Friday's lead editorial.

It was hardly a shock that the skittish Chinese embassy this week would revoke the visa of former Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek. At the 11th hour. For no stated reason.

Cheek, the improbable speedskater from Greensboro, has made no secret of his opposition to China’s human rights policies, especially its tacit endorsement of government-sanctioned genocide in Darfur.

And China, meanwhile, has made no secret of its intentions to suppress political dissent during the Olympic Games there, which begin in earnest today.
Beijing may have scrubbed its streets and plastered smiley faces over its shameful human rights record, but it’s clear that the Chinese don’t want to talk about that. Nor do they want anyone else to.
That obviously includes Cheek, who has called upon fellow Olympians to speak up about human rights and whose organization, Team Darfur, he helped form expressly for that purpose. Cheek had been planning to spend two weeks in China before he was told Tuesday that his visa had been revoked. Chinese authorities said they wouldn’t give a reason for the move because they didn’t have to.

Stopping the carnage in Darfur has been a passion for Cheek since winning gold and silver medals in the 2006 Winter Games gave him a stage for that cause. More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced in that western Sudanese region since 2003.

China is Sudan’s biggest oil customer and has made major investments there. If anyone has the leverage to press for reform in Sudan, it’s the Chinese.

At the very least, China could have asked for a truce in Darfur during the games, an Olympic tradition that dates back to ancient Greece. Cheek had hoped for such a gesture, not the thumbed nose he ultimately received this week. Ironically, Cheek likely would have been respectful to his Chinese hosts. His brand of advocacy consistently has been measured and graceful, calculated to engage, not to embarrass.

For its part, the International Olympic Committee responded to the snub with typical indifference and impotence. Armed with a full quiver of wet noodles, it merely shrugged. “He is a normal citizen in this case,” spokeswoman Giselle Davis said. “... and any citizen has to apply for a visa.”

Press Secretary Dana Perino said the White House would protest. Meanwhile, President Bush cited Chinese human rights abuses in a speech in Thailand Wednesday night. Then he proceeded to Beijing for the opening ceremonies, a trip he decided to make over protests that he shouldn’t, in light of those abuses. Read his lips. Not his itinerary.

So, as Cheek finds himself stranded stateside, the games begin. Amid the fanfare and the noble rhetoric about character and courage and commitment, this Olympics has added a not-so-new event: Smile. Play. Look the other way.