Sir, - The International Olympic Committee's decision to award the 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing is a very worrying one. For the past two decades, the Olympic Games and athletics in general has been blackened by various doping scandals. However, Sydney 2000 went a long way to recover the good name of the greatest sporting event in the world.
But what now? How can a country with such poor human rights standards be awarded the games? In your ireland.com report yesterday (Friday 13th), it was stated that Amnesty International recorded 1,781 executions in just three months.
Surely this is not the environment in which to celebrate the Olympics. The Olympic Games is also covered by a massive world media, yet China's relationship with the media of the Western world is very fragile.
Mr Wang Wei, secretary general of the Beijing bid, stated: "I think we will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China." The very fact that he said this indicates an uncertainty towards the media.
Added to this is the mystery surrounding China's athletes taking performance-enhancing drugs. How clean will the 2008 games be? The IOC had the chance to give the games to Paris, or Toronto, would have been a very popular choice. Beijing is a disaster waiting to happen. - Yours, etc.,
Darragh Clifford, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.