9 German Olympians Speak Their Minds About Chinese Repression

Chinese President Jiao Hu can speak all he wishes about harmony, peace and cooperation as the high aims of his country's Olympics.

But a few German athletes today demonstrated they can see beyond the regime's smoke and mirrors by exercising something increasingly rare in Hu's country, free speech.

All of them posed with pictures of Chinese dissidents to demonstrate that for them, it's puzzling to visit "a people who can't speak freely."

The Olympians responded to a call by Suddeutsche Zeitung magazine to the entire German Olympic Team to be part of a campaign under the theme "We are all Chinese," in reference to US President John Kennedy's famous 1963 "Ich Bin Ein Berliner" speech.

The athletes showed much more resolve to confront the Chinese regime's dismal human rights record than the International Olympic Committee, who for the second time in three days, today crumbled under the Chinese censors' intolerance to allow complete Internet access for visiting journalists at the Olympic Village.

These are some of the German athletes' shows of support for Chinese dissidents:

—Mountain biker Sabine Spitz showed a photo of writer Yang Tongyan, who has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for demanding democratic changes.
—Water-polo player Soeren Mackeben donned orange robes in support of the monks who backed the Tibetan uprising.
—Fourth-time Olympian fencer Imke Duplitzer showed a photo of Gao Zhisheng, who dared to send a letter to the US Congress supporting human rights in China. He then disappeared shortly afterwards.

The IOC's Lausanne headquarter should take very good notice of these acts of courage.