Apr 9, 2008, 8:22 GMT
Beijing - Members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Wednesday that they have ruled out cutting short the protest-plagued international portion of the Olympic torch relay.
'From my point of view, we should not stop,' said Australian IOC member, Kevan Gosper. 'It would send the wrong signal.'
Gosper echoed the opinions of other committee members after their internal discussions in Beijing.
Mario Vazquez Rana, president of the Association of National Olympic Committees, said after sharing dinner Tuesday night with IOC president Jacques Rogge that Rogge was '100-per-cent convinced' not to make any changes to the international relay.
They made the comments after protesters disrupted the relay in London on Sunday and Paris on Monday. Demonstrations were also awaited in San Francisco Wednesday as the torch winds its way around the world en route to Beijing's August Games.
'My opinion is that we have to do exactly what we planned,' said Gunilla Lindbergh, a Swedish IOC member. 'The torch has to complete its international trip.'
Later Wednesday, Rogge was to meet with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao over the status of Olympic preparations, Gerhard Heiberg, member of the IOC's executive committee said.
The executive committee was also to meet to discuss the course of action to be taken on the torch relay in the wake of the protests, which have been directed at China's crackdown in Tibet, its human-rights record and its ties to Sudan's government, which is blamed for a humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
While IOC members said they did not want to change this year's relay, Vazquez Rana said they would discuss changes to future relays.
The Olympic torch was sent on a world tour for the first time ahead of the 2004 Athens Games. The organizers of the Beijing Games have promoted their version of the relay as a 'Journey of Harmony.'
It is to be flown and carried by runners for 137,000 kilometres through 19 cities outside China.
Before the Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010, organizers plan to only put the torch on display in Canada after it is lit in the Games' Grecian home of Olympia.
On Tuesday night, Rogge told France 3 television that this year's relay would not be stopped.
'It's a false rumour,' he said. 'There is no discussion under way on the matter.'
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