China games more difficult than expected: IOC member

OSLO (Reuters) - A prominent Norwegian International Olympic Committee member said the games in Beijing were proving "more difficult than expected" but criticized widespread pro-Tibet protests.

"We have discovered that this (staging the Olympics in China) is more difficult than we originally thought," Gerhard Heiburg told Norwegian daily Aftenposten on Thursday.

Heiburg, who headed the organizing committee at the 1994 winter Olympics in Lillehammer, said "many positive things" had occurred in China since the country won the right to host the games.

"China has opened up in a completely new way than earlier. I think the Olympics overall contributes positively," Heiburg, one of 10 IOC board members, told Aftenposten.

Last week Heiberg told Reuters the IOC may seek talks with China over the situation in Tibet and human rights issues if they threaten the success of the Beijing Olympics.

Heiberg criticized protesters who have disrupted the Olympic torch relay, saying they were "unworthy of the Olympic spirit".

Torch relay runs through London, Paris and San Francisco in recent days have been hit by protesters demanding freedom for Tibet and an improvement of human rights in China.

The Chinese authorities cracked down on protests by Tibetans last month and blamed their exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama for orchestrating the unrest as part of a campaign for independence. The Dalai Lama denies involvement.

(Reporting by Wojciech Moskwa; Editing by Giles Elgood)