Meanwhile, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) also said in a statement "linking sports and politics was not in line with the Olympic spirit."

The Olympic Charter also has a clear provision on the sports-politics relation in the 51th section, saying "no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas."

"We have learnt some lessons in the history of modern Olympiad. In 1980, the United States led a boycott of the Moscow Games, widely ignored in the West, and the former Soviet Union hit back four years later when the Games was held in Los Angeles. There are no winners in such unreasonable acts," Keino told reporters.

Some professional and Olympic athletes have formed a so-called "Team Darfur" in the name of "calling for a celebration, rather than a boycott, of the Olympic spirit."

They have formally appealed to China to protect people in the Darfur area and work with them to rebuild the region. The chairman holds neutral attitude towards the event, but clearly reiterated his resentment on mixing the sports and politics.

"We should leave the politics to politicians, and as I always say, athletes ought to focus on training and put their hearts into performances at the top sports galas," he said.

Olympic tennis champion Justine Henin also told a press conference earlier that she would go to Beijing to play tennis, not politics, and "sport and politics must remain separate."

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2008)