Australian athletes will not be gagged in Beijing

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian athletes at this year's Beijing Olympics have been told they will be free to express their opinions on any issues, including Tibet and China's human rights record.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said their athletes would be allowed to discuss anything they wanted in media interviews and online blogs, but would not be allowed to make political protests inside Olympic venues.

"The bottom line is that, for us, athletes are entitled to an opinion and express that opinion," AOC president John Coates told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.

"We are trying to maintain a decency about the way the Games are conducted... but still we are giving the athletes the opportunity to express for what many of them are important issues."

Coates said the AOC did not believe that freedom of speech constituted a demonstration, which is banned under the Olympic charter, but Australian athletes would be told where to draw the line and political demonstrations would not be allowed.

Coates said Australian athletes would be told that the Games were about sport and they must respect the dignity of the host nation China, their fellow athletes and the Olympic charter.

"We don't want banners and t-shirts and things in the village which is meant to be a place where 10,500 athletes get together," Coates said.

"You can imagine that if the Iraqi team turned up with t-shirts telling us (Australia) and Britain and the U.S. to get out of Iraq, there could be some unpleasant things happen in the village.

"And similarly I think we have to respect the athletes of all countries, including China, in the village."

(Reporting by Julian Linden; Editing by John O'Brien)