IOC president Jacques Rogge has promised that athletes will be free to express themselves at the Beijing Olympics - but urged them to respect the Games.

"Athletes will have the chance to express themselves freely in all public areas in China," he told French television.

"We're only asking them not to make political, religious or racist propaganda [within Olympic-designated areas].

"The right to express yourself is sacred [but] express yourselves as you wish but respect the Games."

He said it was unfair to criticise the IOC over China's human rights record.

"Why reproach the IOC for something generations of heads of state and government haven't achieved since the creation of popular China in 1949."

According to Rogge the presence of a 25,000-strong battalion of international media to cover the Games is one of the greatest assets of the Olympics.

"They [the journalists] will be speaking not only about the sport but also about the society," he said.

China has come under the microscope recently because of violence that broke out in Tibet's capital Lhasa on March 14 following four days of peaceful protests against Chinese rule.

Exiled Tibetan leaders say more than 150 people have died in the subsequent government crackdown, while China says Tibetan "rioters" have killed 18 civilians and two policemen.

As a result the global torch relay has been beset by problems with several of the legs being disrupted by protestors against China's human rights record, not only over Tibet but also their continuing trade with Sudan.

AFP