TIBET OFFICE OF THE: First Tibetan Olympian wins medal for China

Statesman.com
11 August 2012
 
Any other day and in any other situation, the groups of exiled Tibetans who gathered enthusiastically near Buckingham Palace, They would never have gone to support an athlete wearing Chinese colors, a country that they consider their oppressor, a country that invaded and has ruled their Himalayan homeland with an iron fist for six decades.
 
But this was exceptional. Why, apparently for the first time in the Olympics, the athlete was one of them, a Tibetan.
 
Sitting apart but, just this once, both wanting the same, groups of Chinese followers shouted “¡Jia You!” while the Tibetans shouted “¡Guk!”, Both expressions mean “¡Forward!”
 
The Chinese were waving their red flags. Tibetans waved the flag of Tibet which is banned in China, with a bright sun rising over a snowy mountain. They could hear and see each other, but they carefully ignored each other, also.
 
The athlete –Qieyang Shenjie for the Chinese, Choeyang Kyi for Tibetans- I could hear the shouts of encouragement. But she was careful to keep her head down and concentrated on not putting a foot wrong.. It seemed an apt metaphor for a Tibetan competing for China., smart enough not to get caught up in the politics that has surrounded his Olympic participation.
 
Qieyang not only made history for Tibetans, She also won a bronze medal in the race walk race. 20 kilometers, on saturday. She grinned as she crossed the finish line, an image of pleasure. If you felt bothered like a Tibetan with Chinese colors, he didn't show it.
 
“I am very honored to take part as the first representative of Tibetans in the Olympic Games and win a medal” said.
 
She said she heard Tibetans cheering her along the avenue that passes Queen Elizabeth II's residence..
 
 “¡I heard it! I actually heard a Tibetan encouraging me. At that moment, I looked back but I couldn't see who that person was.” said.
 
But she looked alarmed when asked if she saw the Tibetan flags., He shook his head and refused to answer..
 
Because Tibet is ruled by China, does not have its own team of athletes in the Olympic Games or other international competitions, like the soccer world cup. That's why, For Tibetans, This was the first time they could cheer for one of them.. But this was also a shock to some of them., seeing Qieyang pass in front of them with the red color of China.
 
 
“¿I'm really rooting for Tibet or China? Ugyen Choepell wondered, who said his parents fled Tibet in 1960 towards India, where he was born.
 
Even so, he shouted “¡Choeyang ahead!” and he was excited when she passed.
 
“Great, really. Emotional” said. “Making history”.
 
If there was another Tibetan in previous Olympic Games, history has forgotten them. In China, the government-run news agency, Xinhua, He said Qieyang was the first Tibetan to join a Chinese Olympic team.
 
Olympic historian Bill Mallon said that Tibet has never fielded an Olympic team and that he and other Olympic experts he consulted were not aware of any previous Tibetan Olympians.. The Tibetan government in exile, in India, said something similar.
 
“As a person, we wish your well” Dicki Choyang said., the exiled Minister of Information and International Relations of the administration. “She must have made a great effort to be there.”. But we are sad because he could not represent a free Tibet”.
 
“China uses things like this for its political benefit.”. The fact that a Tibetan is participating in the Olympics does not take anything away from the serious situation prevailing in Tibet.” Choyang added..
 
Qieyang, of 21 years, He said that she was born in what is now the Chinese province of Qinghai and that her family is made up of Tibetan shepherds, although she was stumped when asked how many animals they have.
 
“I can't remember. I haven't been home for many years” said.
 
She seemed like a curiosity to Chinese journalists who peppered her with questions after the race., won by Russian Elena Lashmanova. They asked Qieyang for a Tibetan song but she refused.
 
He told them that his Tibetan name means “the sun.”, who started running when she was a little girl, that he said a Buddhist prayer before the race and that his family is not wealthy.
 
In the blog he runs, Qieyang said she had been sworn in as a member of China's ruling Communist Party in July, before going to London to compete.
 
This attracted a string of responses from other Chinese bloggers, from those who called her “disgusting”” and they asked him why he wanted to “join the greatest magic in the world”, and they told him he was “boarding the wrong boat.”, even those who wrote him “congratulations”, “admirable”, "very good".
 
She sounded embarrassed when asked why she joined –again trying not to put a foot wrong.
 
“¿Because?… Yo… ¿How to say it? Is everything all right", said.
 
Si Qieyang was keeping her real feelings to herself –it is impossible to know - the Tibetans who came to support, They found it hard to believe that she could be happy competing for China., although it certainly seemed so.
 
“For her, I can understand that it is a difficult situation. I imagine that the Chinese must have made threats of all kinds.. I think she was brainwashed or forced to do this.. There is not much choice for Tibetans in Tibet” Yangchen Kikhang said., a Tibetan born in India.
 
“As an individual, we are proud of her, but she is representing china, “I’m not happy.”, said.
 
But, she encouraged Qieyang and comforted herself with this thought:
 
“Inside your head” He said “she probably thinks she's Tibetan.”-
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Associated Press writers Ashwini Bhatia and Didi Tang contributed to this story
John Leicester is an international sports columnist for the Associated Press.
 
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Known as Phuntso
TIBET OFFICE
New York
phuntso@igc.org