KEY POINTS:
A contract attacked as gagging New Zealand athletes at the Beijing Olympic Games is eight years old, the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) says.
Green MP Keith Locke has written to the NZOC asking for its contract to be amended to guarantee athletes the right to free speech while in China.
As written, the contract forbids them from making any political comment while in Beijing, he said yesterday.
NZOC communications manager Ashley Abbott today said that was not the case.
Athletes would be allowed to express views on the regime in China if they wanted to.
"If one of our athletes were asked their feelings on an important issue it would be absolutely their perogative to answer as they see fit," she told Radio New Zealand.
The contract, written with input from athletes, offered them protection from comment on issues they felt would detract from their performance in Beijing.
It was a standard agreement covering a range of issues and had been in place since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. No athlete had refused to sign it.
"At this stage we're really comfortable with our athletes' agreement, and the athletes are also," she said.
Any implication it was developed to cover issues specific to China - which has a poor human rights record - "is actually out of context and incorrect", she said.
Most national Olympic Committees had similar contracts, she said.
Mr Locke disputed that, saying Belgium and New Zealand alone had such restrictive provisions.
"This is an affront to free speech which is guaranteed by New Zealand's Bill of Rights and our Olympic officials are not entitled to take that right away," he said.
"This week, after a storm of protest, the British Olympic Committee chopped out a clause in its contract that said athletes `are not able to comment on politically sensitive issues'."
Mr Locke, the party's sports spokesman, said one of the most politically sensitive issues in China was the suppression of dissent.
"Our Olympic officials should not be imitating the Chinese regime by muzzling Kiwi athletes who might be disturbed by some of what they see in China," he said.
The Beijing Olympics open in August.
- NZPA
