Joey Cheek’s Visa Revoked– Will Not Be Allowed to Attend Beijing Olympics

I’ve been trying to take a break from the politics surrounding the China Olympics, keep it positive and just speak on the athletes and the sport. But this really irks me. Joey Cheek heads a group called Team Darfur, which seeks to bring attention to the situation in Darfur. Because the Olympics are being held in China this year, it makes sense that they would target China’s unique opportunity to intervene in Darfur as part of their platform.

Joey Cheek was set to head to Beijing this week. He had previously been granted a visa, but now that has been revoked. I understand that a country has the right to grant or deny visas to anyone for basically no reason. The U.S. has repeatedly denied visas for certain performers because they can’t seem to obey the law. But I don’t understand why the Chinese government initially approved Cheek’s visa, only to turn around and revoke it. Presumably, they knew of his involvement with Team Darfur when they approved it to begin with. AND Team Darfur has been a strong opponent of an Olympic boycott. I don’t think their focus on Darfur would be any less if the Olympics were being held somewhere else— after all, Joey Cheek first began his campaign to help Darfur when he won a gold medal in Turino. This is yet another example of China’s complete unwillingness to allow anything that might possibly be construed as criticism.

So, since Joey won’t be able to speak out at the Olympics, here are a couple of You Tube videos. You can also visit Team Darfur’s website and Save Darfur to learn more.