Italy praises athletes' human rights gestures

AP[Monday, August 25, 2008]

ROME - Italian politicians and government officials on Sunday praised some of the country's Olympic athletes for making small gestures in favor of Tibet and human rights in China during the Beijing Olympics.

While rejecting calls by some politicians to boycott the opening ceremony, a few Italian athletes have heeded other invitations to take more quiet, symbolic steps to show disapproval of China's Tibet policy and human rights record.

Fencer Margherita Granbassi, who won a bronze medal in the women's team and individual foil, has said she will donate her mask to the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

"I hope the same mask that protected me in Beijing will help him protect his people," Granbassi told Italian media after returning from the Olympics.

Heavyweight boxer Clemente Russo on Saturday dedicated his silver medal to "all those who suffer in China."

Kayaker Josefa Idem, who won silver in the women's 500 K-1, was quoted by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera as saying she would donate the suit she wore in the final to the Dalai Lama. However, she also criticized politicians for allegedly placing responsibility on the athletes to protest China's policies while not doing enough themselves.

On Sunday, Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said in a statement he was "happy" that "some Italian athletes, autonomously and without renouncing their commitment to sports, made a symbolic gesture in favor of Tibet and the Dalai Lama."

Giorgia Meloni, the minister for youth policies, was among those who had suggested athletes should boycott the opening ceremony.

"In the field of great conquests for civil rights, public opinion makes the difference, and to move public opinion the gesture of an athlete is more important than the gesture" of a politician, Meloni was quoted as saying on Sunday by Corriere.

She also noted that Premier Silvio Berlusconi had not attended the opening ceremony, where Italy was represented by Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

Berlusconi, 71, had danced around the issue, saying only that temperatures in Beijing were too hot.

Praise for how Italian athletes handled the sensitive issue also came from the center-left opposition.

"It would have been a mistake to accept the boycott rhetoric," former sports minister Giovanna Melandri told Corriere. "The athletes dutifully participated in this feast of sport. I appreciate very much that they took a moment to make a symbolic gesture."