Peter Ueberroth to US athletes going to Communist China: DROP DEAD.

• He says you're just an invited "guest."

AP story: "The U.S. Olympic Committee wants American athletes to focus on being good guests, not outspoken reformers, when they get to the Beijing Olympics.

USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth acknowledged Friday that the upcoming Beijing Games will be different because they'll shine a light on China. But he insists the focus should be on the Olympics, and not so much on their newest host country.

• ''We don't just go there, we get invited there,'' Ueberroth said Friday at the close of a USOC board meeting. ''We accept the invitation, and then there's a set of rules that are IOC rules. We accept those rules. We expect and are sure that our athletes are going to respect their own country, respect their flag, respect the flag of every other country.''

The International Olympic Committee charter contains bylaws that say the Olympics are not to be used as a political platform. With the games coming to the world's last communist superpower in less than six months, much has been made of China's record on human rights and free speech, to say nothing of its pollution and questionable food-safety practices."....

• From AP report, "Ueberroth: US a guest at Olympics," 2/22/08

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