Team Darfur triathlete and Special Representative to the UN World Tourism Organization ST-EP Foundation attended the Beijing Games as a supporter of the US Team and a high-level panelist.
Tracy was proud to be attending the Beijing Olympic Games as member of Team Darfur, a coalition of professional athletes committed to ending the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. Although athletes faced significant restrictions to speaking out about human rights at the Olympics, Team Darfur athletes still ensured that the Olympic dream reached out to the people of Darfur.
Team Darfur swimmer Adrian Turner has a piece in this month's edition of Voices of Tomorrow.
My newspaper today is quiet. Sat on the train trundling towards the north of England, I go through the usual inconvenience of a two-minute wrestling match with a broadsheet. The other passengers loll silently in unison in their seats, as I noisily fold the epic pages of the paper and try my best not to elbow my innocent neighbour repeatedly in the chin.
My newspaper today is quiet. Among the quotidian stories, my newspaper murmurs of four multi-millionaires who have decided to stop funding the country's (mis)leading political party, the sale of a Monet for £40.9m (US$70m) and a new yellow-card cautioning system for cricketers behaving badly on the field of play (...for slurping their tea perhaps?).
Although athletes faced significant restrictions to speaking out about human rights at the Olympics, Team Darfur athletes ensured that the Olympic dream reached out to the people of Darfur.
Four Team Darfur athletes were honored by their teammates and named to carry their nation's flag into the opening ceremonies, including Lopez Lomong who carried the US flag.
Team Darfur members met on the last day of the Games to sign the Olympic Truce wall (see photo at right).
Team Darfur members did interviews when they could, including Canadian soccer players and Team Darfur athletes there as reporters.
Team Darfur athletes were represented on high level panels about the power of sport to help create peace around the world.
Dozens of people were killed and more than 100 were injured Monday in a government assault on a huge camp for displaced people in Darfur, the conflict-riddled region in western Sudan, according to witnesses and leaders at the camp...
Hussein Abu Sharati, a spokesman for the roughly 90,000 displaced people living in the camp, said dozens of heavily armed vehicles operated by Sudanese security forces surrounded the camp at dawn and opened fire.
The Sudanese police released a statement in Nyala on Monday saying that the operation had been carried out to seize weapons stored at the camp. It contended that Darfur rebel groups were planning to use the weapons to carry out assassinations...
The United Nations said in a statement that it was “gravely concerned” about reports of attacks on civilians in the camp. But aid officials and displaced people expressed dismay that nearby peacekeeping troops, part of a joint mission of the United Nations and the African Union, did not intervene.
In a story that shows the power of the Olympic spirit to inspire efforts for peace around the world, young people from across South Sudan gathered in Twic County for the annual "Twic Olympics".
The games began in 2000 against the backdrop of civil war and are used to encourage peace and reconciliation.
Located on the border between northern and southern Sudan, Twic was at the center of the brutal 21-year war.
Teams from each of the county’s six districts compete for sporting glory in a relaxed but competitive environment.
The teams are meant to offer young people returning home after the war a chance to integrate back into their communities.
Twelve international agencies fund the games, including Christian Aid. Its local partner, Sudan Production Aid (Supraid), organizes the games, trying to bring local groups together in a spirit of friendship.
A number of leaders of the US government have made statements about the situation of Team Darfur athletes' whose visas to China have been revoked. A sampling of those statements is below:
President Bush, in an interview on NBC on August 10th with NBC’s Bob Costas:
COSTAS: China is a nation that warmly received Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, who has since been indicted by the International Court on charges of genocide... Then this past week they revoked the visa of Joey Cheek, an exemplary Olympian who had planned to come here not to directly protest China's government, but to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur... What's your reaction?
THE PRESIDENT: My reaction is I'm sorry Joey Cheek didn't come, he's a good man. Joey Cheek has just got to know that I took the Sudanese message for him. My attitude is, is if you got relations with Mr.Bashir, think about helping to solve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. That was my message to the Chinese government.
In a statement, Senator Feingold of Wisconsin, who introduced the Senate Resolution calling for an Olympic Truce for Darfur, said:
“China’s decision to revoke Joey Cheek’s visa undermines the spirit of the Olympic Games and China’s role as host. As a world leader deeply engaged in Africa, and as host of the Olympic Games, China has a responsibility and an opportunity to help bring peace to Darfur. I call on the Chinese government to use the Olympic Games to push for an end to the conflicts in Sudan and I call on President Bush to raise this issue specifically with the Chinese government during his visit.”
As we've noted in past blog posts, Team Darfur athletes have been leading the call for an Olympic Truce for Darfur. As outlined in their open letter, an Olympic Truce for Darfur would be a period of time when the international community would work to secure lasting peace for Darfur by demanding increased access for humanitarian aid workers, deployment of UNAMID peacekeepers, and support for the peace process.
A quick recap of Team Darfur athletes' efforts for an Olympic Truce for Darfur:
July 1: Team Darfur releases an open letter signed by over 130 elite athletes calling for an Olympic Truce for Darfur. Read the letter here. Read the press release here .
Dream for Darfur releases a report outlining the history of the Olympic Truce and the ways it can be used to secure lasting peace in Darfur. Read the report here.
Over 70 Team Darfur athletes are headed to Beijing to compete in the 2008 Olympic & Paralympic Games. Over 300 other elite athletes have signed on to Team Darfur's mission to raise awareness about and bring an end to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
And you can help!
Take the steps below to show your support for this amazing group of talented and compassionate athletes.
Team Darfur President Joey Cheek in Sunday's Washington Post:
I'm not competing this summer, but I am urging others to think about Darfur and about China's relationship with Sudan. China buys much of Sudan's annual oil output and sells arms to Sudan, helping prop up the government in Khartoum. China is also the genocidal regime's key defender at the United Nations, helping weaken Security Council resolutions that might stem the violence.
I sincerely hope that the newest Olympic champions not only show graciousness toward their Chinese hosts, but also issue a stern call for action in Darfur. With its significant ties to Sudan, China is one of the countries in the world best positioned to do more to stop the killing in Darfur, and it is the responsibility of athletes competing there this summer to say that -- respectfully yet forcefully -- even as they focus on their own athletic accomplishments.
Team Darfur cyclist Jimena Florit's piece on the importance of speaking out about Darfur was published this week in online magazine www.VoicesOfTomorrow.org. We want to thank Jimena for writing this thoughtful piece, and encourage everyone to follow www.VoicesOfTomorrow.org as more articles by Team Darfur athletes will be published there in the coming weeks and months.
Coming from Argentina, I have a pretty good understanding of what it is like to live in fear. Our history is full of long periods of military dictatorships during which acts of terrorism against perceived opponents of the government caused tens of thousands of people to become political prisoners, many thousands to be executed and over 20,000 to just disappear - never to be heard from again.
Even today, many people seeking closure are fighting for justice. Time has not healed their pain. Random violence, lack of freedom, and physical and mental abuse has been carved into our cultural soul - families have been broken, dreams of a bright future have been dashed and too many lives have been ruined.
Team Darfur triathlete and Special Representative to the UN World Tourism Organization ST-EP Foundation attended the Beijing Games as a supporter of the US Team and a high-level panelist. 
Tomorrow.
f heavily armed vehicles operated by Sudanese security forces surrounded the camp at dawn and opened fire. 
