OLYMPIC ATHLETE MAKES DIFFERENCE IN DARFUR

AUTHOR: JEFF Z. KLEIN (NY TIMES)
Today at the National Press Club in Washington, U.S. Olympic speed skater Joey Cheek will speak on behalf of some 130 athletes who have signed a letter calling on China and the United Nations to stop the violence in the Darfur region of Sudan, and the activist group Dream for Darfur will outline its proposal for establishing an Olympic Truce there to last the duration of the Games.

These may sound like pie-in-the-sky propositions, but Dream for Darfur actually has had remarkable success in getting China to change its policies toward its ally, the Sudanese government, which is accused of committing atrocities in Darfur. China had ignored calls to pressure Sudan, but that changed last year after the group, which was co-founded by the actress Mia Farrow, persuaded Steven Spielberg to withdraw as artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics over China’s Darfur policy. That bad publicity in turn moved China to reverse its policy and put pressure on the Sudanese government to curb the violence.

Cheek is a co-founder of another activist organization, Team Darfur. He won a bronze medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and a gold and silver at Turin in 2006. After winning that gold he donated his $25,000 U.S. Olympic Committee bonus to the humanitarian group Right to Play.

BIG ups to Cheeks who is putting his fame, and money where his mouth is. It's good to see athletes working to make a difference.