'Human rights atrocities': British skier laments Olympics awarded to China

Present this Saturday in Beijing to compete in his last Olympics, Gus Kenworthy did not fail to take advantage of his short window of exposure.

After his halfpipe final, finished in eighth position, the Briton took the floor to criticize the choice of the International Olympic Committee to award these Games to China.

“When there are human rights atrocities in the country and a bad stance on LGBTQ rights, that has to be addressed,” he explained.

Strong supporter of the LGBTQ cause

“The IOC could help dictate this change by emphasizing certain issues.

[…] Sometimes it feels like their hearts are in the wrong place, it's a greedy game,” he continued.

Defender of the LGBTQ cause, having revealed his homosexuality in 2015, he deplored the lack of ambition in helping people "marginalized and deprived of their rights".

Read also Beijing Olympics: athletes asked not to speak out on human rights for their safety

His words are courageous, in a context where athletes have been asked not to speak out on the issue of human rights in China by the NGO Human Rights Watch.

“We don't think there really will be a lot of protection for athletes there,” said Rob Koehler, managing director of the Global Athlete group, before the Games.

“So we advise athletes not to talk.

We want them to compete and use their voices when they get home."

A breach of “political neutrality”

The day before, on the subject of the relationship between China and Taiwan, Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, had recalled the need to “remain politically neutral, as required by the Olympic Charter”.

Long before the start of the Games, the host country was already the target of numerous criticisms, in particular about the repression and forced labor of Muslim ethnic groups, including the Uyghurs, in the North.

Human rights associations count more than a million people currently detained in re-education camps.

Read alsoChina: the IOC asks the organizers of the Beijing Olympics to “remain politically neutral” on Xinjiang

New detractor of China, Kenworthy is not just anyone.

A key personality in the world of freestyle, the 30-year-old skier has already won a silver medal in slopestyle in 2014, in the colors of the United States.

In 2018, he made himself known by kissing his companion in front of cameras around the world, a few months after being the first Olympic skier to publicly reveal his homosexuality.

For his last Games, he had chosen to represent Great Britain, the country of his mother.