IOC could abandon world portion of torch relay

Beijing asked to redraw route to limit violence

Jeff Lee, with a file from Jonathan Fowlie
Vancouver Sun

BEIJING -- The International Olympic Committee said today it is considering whether to abandon the international portion of the Beijing torch relay and it has given instructions to the relay's sponsors to scale back their operations in San Francisco amid high expectations the relay will be disrupted by protests.

Gerhard Heiberg, Olympic marketing commission head, said the IOC is concerned that the relay keep "a very low profile" until it can get clear of San Francisco.

And IOC director-general Urs Lacotte said the IOC has been pressuring the Beijing Organizing Committee to redraw the torch relay itself to limit the potential for violence.

Lacotte said said the injury of a torchbearer would be the tipping point at where the IOC would step in and stop the relay.

"In London, where the torchbearer was accosted by a protester, well, that was very near the limit," he said.

The comments came in advance of a meeting IOC president Jacques Rogge has with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in part to discuss concerns over the protests that beset the torch relay in London and Paris.

Rogge brushed by reporters this morning and said he would be issuing a statement Friday at the conclusion of the IOC's executive board meeting.

But in a closed-door breakfast meeting, he told IOC members that security of the torch was an issue. Several IOC members have expressed anger over what they perceived as a lack of adequate security on the Paris leg.

Heiberg said he expects the IOC's executive committee will be reluctant to let the torch be taken on an international journey again after Beijing.

Tension among the 700 delegates to the Association of National Olympic Committees conference has risen in the wake of the violent protests, and the torch relay problem dominates many discussions.

John Furlong, the CEO of the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee, said he discovered that quickly when he went to address the ANOC general assembly.

"It is tense here. It is the most unsettled I've seen an audience at one of these meetings. People are very distracted and unhappy," he said.

It was in Paris where, for the first time in recent memory, torch relay organizers were forced to extinguish the flame and transport it aboard a bus because of intense protests around it.

For now, the IOC is determined to keep on with the international leg of the relay, and is hoping it settles down after San Francisco. But Heiberg left it open that the IOC might cancel the rest of the trip if the relay continues to attract violent protests.

The IOC is holding its collective breath as it awaits today's start of the San Francisco tour, an event that protesters have vowed to disrupt. On Monday, protesters scaled the Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled a large pro-Tibet banner. Tuesday, a protest was held outside the Chinese consulate.

Chinese officials also condemned the protests -- calling them "a blasphemy of the Olympic spirit" -- and vowed that the torch relay will continue unabated on its 130-day tour.

Rogge confirmed the executive board will review the torch relay when it meets on Thursday.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who said he will be going to Beijing to show his support for the Games, also said he's not surprised the torch relay has been a magnet for protest.

"I think that's one of the things the Olympics does. It brings the world's attention to your country, both the good parts of it and the negative parts," he said. "The same thing will happen in Canada."

Most IOC members are opposed to cancelling the relay, saying it would amount to a capitulation to organized protesters who have repeatedly tried to grab the torch, douse it and generally disrupt the event along much of its 21-stop, six-continent journey.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008