International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge on Saturday insisted he had no regrets about awarding the Games to China and said he saw no momentum for a boycott of the event. However, the IOC supremo acknowledged an Amnesty International report suggesting China's human rights record was worsening and said it would be discussed at meetings in Beijing next week. “I have said many times that the IOC considers it is a wise choice in awarding the Games to Beijing and we have no regrets,” he said in Singapore, which will host the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010. He pointed to Beijing having an excellent bid and to the added value of bringing sport and the Olympics to one fifth of mankind. “So for all of these reasons we believe we had to award the Games to Beijing,” he said. The IOC has long argued that the Olympics will be a force for good in China and that the event would help promote human rights. But recent events, including a crackdown by China in Tibet, have caused outrage internationally, sparking calls for a boycott of the August Olympics, or at least the opening ceremony. Rogge's comments came as France demanded that China starts talks with the Dalai Lama and releases political prisoners as a condition for President Nicholas Sarkozy to attend the opening ceremony. Rogge did not specifically refer to Tibet or the jailing last week of Hu Jia, a Chinese AIDS campaigner and prominent civil rights advocate, but said protests and freedom of expression must be respected. “We would prefer not to have protests but we respect them,” he said. “We are for freedom of expression, as long as it is non-violent, as long as it is dignified.” Rogge said he was aware of growing calls to boycott the Games but said he believed it had no momentum. “We know that there is a discussion on boycotts, but we do not see a real momentum on boycotts by governments,” he added. “There are talks of a potential boycott of the opening ceremony. I would not want to comment specifically on that. “It is up to the heads of government to decide whether they want to come to Beijing or not. It is not something in which the IOC would intervene.” __
