Shaven head was Tibet protest, says Polish medalist

Although Kolecki declined to confirm that directly, he left little doubt about his motives. “I take a regular interest in world affairs and all the important news, including about Tibet. But I’m meant to respect the Olympic Charter,” 26-year-old Kolecki said on Thursday after returning from China. “Let’s just say that shaving my head was a symbol,” he said.

The International Olympic Committee’s document, which lays down the rules for the Games, says that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas”.

One of the leaders of the Polish branch of Students for a Free Tibet, Witek Hebanowski, said that he had been in touch with Kolecki before the Games. Hebanowski said the athlete had explained he was looking for a way to hold a protest.

Ahead of the Games, several dozen athletes had signed an open letter to China’s President Hu Jintao calling for freedom of speech and religion in China, notably in Tibet, as well as the release of jailed human rights campaigners and an end to capital punishment.

But Kolecki’s gesture appears to be the first protest action by an athlete actually at the Games against China’s communist rulers, who have been accused by pro-Tibet groups of carrying out a bloody crackdown in the Himalayan region.

China sent troops into Tibet in 1950 and officially “liberated” it the following year. Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking independence for Tibet and of fomenting unrest. He insists he wants autonomy and religious freedom rather than independence, and has said he supports the Beijing Olympics.

Kolecki also took silver at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, as well as coming second in two world championships and winning the European title five times.