Democrats call on Olympic officials to protect American athletes who speak out in Beijing

Democratic lawmakers have urged Olympic officials to protect U.S. athletes who speak out against China’s human rights violations at the Beijing Winter Olympics. 

In a letter sent on Monday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) asked the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC)  to protect athletes’ free speech rights and data privacy and reduce their exposure to products made by forced labor.

Both McGovern and Merkley are co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. 

“Based on our monitoring of Chinese government behavior, we believe this threat should be taken seriously. Being an American citizen is in itself not protection from adverse treatment by the Chinese government,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter to USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland.

“As the Commission has documented, Chinese authorities have imposed exit bans on U.S. citizens, and even jailed foreign nationals, for political or specious reasons.”

The lawmakers also asked the USOPC to engage with the International Olympic Committee, other national Olympic committees and the State Department to ensure plans and procedures are in place to protect athletes who expressed their freedom of speech if they experience punishment for it.

“We further request that the USOPC communicate to the public that it is taking such steps,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter.

The move comes as the U.S., along with Great Britain and Australia, recently announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games due to concerns of human rights violations in China, according to Reuters.