FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3 August 2007


Zurich/Oslo/Lausanne - The newly formed National Olympic Committee Tibet has today written to International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge requesting an invitation to send a “Team Tibet” to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
“We are extremely proud to have a group of young Tibetan athletes eager to participate in next year’s games, hence our decision to form a National Olympic Committee”, said Wangpo Tethong, President of the NOC Tibet established on July 30, 2007.

The board of NOC Tibet is hopeful that IOC delegates and National Olympic Committees around the world will support the request of NOC Tibet to be a member of the Olympic family.

Currently Tibet as a nation is not able to take part in the Olympic Games. Tibet has been occupied by China since 1950, and the Tibetans, a distinct people with their own language, cultural and social characteristics, and with a defined territory, have lived under China’s brutal regime ever since.

“Team Tibet” members are young Tibetan sportspeople in exile. They are passionate about sport, but forced to live as refugees from their homeland. They share the Olympic dreams of other young athletes and want nothing more than to fly the Tibetan flag with pride, and march alongside young people from other nations on August 8, 2008 into the Olympic stadium.

“China and the IOC have both so far failed to deliver on the hopes and promises that the Olympics will be a force for good for the people of China and Tibet,” said Chungdak Koren, NOC Tibet Vice-President. “Tibetans wish to be represented in the Olympic Games alongside other nations. We have made this appeal to the IOC so that Team Tibet can show the true nature of the Tibetan people, not the nation that has been subjugated under Chinese occupation for almost sixty years.”


Footnotes:
1. NOC Tibet Board Members are: Wangpo Tethong, President (Based in Switzerland), Chungdak Koren (Mrs), Vice-President (Based in Norway), Chonpel Tsering (United Kingdom), Kelsang Dhondup (India), Lobsang Gyalpo (Austria), Kelsang Gope (Switzerland), Nima Dorjee (Canada), Thuten Kesang (New Zealand).
2. For more information on the National Olympic Committee Tibet, see www.noc-tibet.org.
3. For more information on Team Tibet, see www.supportteamtibet.org. Members of the public are invited to register as supporters of Team Tibet on this site.


Contact:
Wangpo Tethong in Switzerland (English/German) +41 78 744 30 10
Chungdak Koren in Norway (English/Tibetan) +47 95024443