Impact On Olympics
There were rumors that some athletes were considering boycotting the 2008 Summer Olympics over the Tibetan violence. The vice-president of the International Olympic Committee discouraged this, as well as the European Union and the Olympic Committees of Europe and Australia, who condemned politicizing sport. Even the 14th Dalai Lama reiterated that he was against any boycott.
The attendance of government leaders at the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was watched by the media, because some groups called for a boycott of the ceremony on both human rights and Tibetan violence grounds. Nonetheless, by the end of July 2008, the leaders of more than 80 countries had decided to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, more than in any of the preceding Olympics. All but one leader of the countries that did not attend the opening ceremonies emphasized that it was not to boycott the Olympics; one German chancellor said that there was "no link to Tibet". Conservative Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk was the one European head of government to boycott the opening ceremonies because of the violence in Tibet.
Read more about this topic: 2008 Tibetan Unrest
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