IOC ready to review torch relay
Tuesday, 8 April 2008International Olympic Committee board member Kevan Gosper admitted today that the concept of parading the Olympic torch around the world may be reviewed for future Games.
The torch has been displayed on the streets of London and Paris in the last two days with both events disrupted by pro-Tibet campaigners, protesting against Chinese rule ahead of this summer's showpiece in Beijing.
The French capital was the worst hit with organisers having to extinguish the flame four times and cancel a mid-procession ceremony at the Hotel de Ville.
It has amounted to a public relations disaster for the IOC and long-serving Australian member Gosper conceded a review is necessary.
He told reporters in Beijing: 'I think events in Tibet have of course stirred the potential for protest.
'I'm a firm believer that we had the right template in the first place, that the torch simply should go from Olympia, Greece, to the host country.
'I would expect that the Olympic committee will review that template.'
Gosper denied suggestions, however, that the current tour, which hits San Francisco on Wednesday, would be scrapped.
He added: 'My belief is the torch relay will stay on course. There might be adjustments, but I think it would be wrong, actually, to try and do anything more than try to get the torch through to its ultimate destination.'
That view was echoed by Beijing Olympic organising committee spokesman Sun Weide, who pledged that 'no force' will prevent the torch's continued passage ahead of this summer's Games.
'No force can stop the torch relay of the Beijing Games,' said Sun.
But the groundswell of opposition in San Francisco ahead of the relay, which will see 80 torchbearers carry the flame on a six-mile route along the city's Bay area, suggests that more trouble is in store for the Beijing organisers.
'If the IOC allows the torch to proceed into Tibet they'll have blood on their hands,' San Francisco protester Laurel Sutherlin told reporters in comments quoted by BBC Sport.
The Olympic flame is scheduled to visit a total of 20 countries before arriving in Beijing in August.
