The Australian Cathy's flag re-run not on for IOC By CLAIRE HARVEY 22aug00 OLYMPIC spectators will be allowed to fly the Aboriginal flag, but athletes such as Cathy Freeman will not. The Australian Olympic Committee warned yesterday that athletes risked breaching International Olympic Committee rules if they carried the Aboriginal flag in Olympic areas. "Because the Aboriginal flag is not a national flag we would be concerned the athlete is putting themselves at risk of breaching rule 61 of the Olympic charter," an AOC spokeswoman said. Rule 61 declares: "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in the Olympic areas." Under the Olympic charter, the IOC has the power to impose temporary or permanent disqualifications on athletes and to confiscate medals. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission chairman Geoff Clark yesterday called for the ban to be lifted. "If spectators can fly the flag, then why not Cathy Freeman?" a spokesman for Mr Clark said. Freeman was reprimanded by Australian team official Arthur Tunstall at the 1994 Commonwealth Games for waving the Aboriginal and Australian flags after winning a gold medal on the track. "We have heard from several sources that all athletes were told after the Commonwealth Games that they were not allowed to carry the Aboriginal flag," the ATSIC spokesman said. The Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag were both declared "Flags of Australia" by the federal government in July 1995 and officially proclaimed as such by then governor-general Bill Hayden. However, this does not qualify them as national flags under Olympic rules. Indigenous leaders reacted angrily over the weekend to a reported ban on spectators waving the Aboriginal flag � but Sydney organisers denied ever banning the flag. The Eureka flag, the Southern Cross, the Boxing Kangaroo and all other state and territory flags can also be flown by spectators, SOCOG spokesman Milton Cockburn said. Only the flags of non-participating nations are banned. "The International Olympic Committee has made clear it understands the significance of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag and they will not be banned from venues and we certainly won't be confiscating them," Mr Cockburn said. Mr Cockburn had been reported on Sunday as saying the Aboriginal flag would be confiscated at the gates of Olympic venues. SOCOG's terms of admission forbid spectators from bringing "flags that are larger than 2 metres by 1 metre and/or of non-participating countries." -- ********************************** 'Click' to protect the rainforest: Make the Rainforest Site your homepage! http://www.therainforestsite.com/ ********************************** ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
