Olympian Joey Cheek speaks about the revoke of his visa to end the Games in Beijing

Joey Cheek was set to attend this year's Olympic Games which are currently in progress in Beijing.  He submitted his visa application and initially it was approved.  China later revoked Cheek's visa and said they were not obligated to sight a reason as to why.  It has been speculated the visa was revoked due to Cheek's connection with the group Team Darfur.

Cheek said of the matter "I was absolutely shocked at the timing of the visa being revoked.  I was not surprised that they took it away. But I was surprised, they gave it to me on July first, and over a month later, less than 24 hours before I was to depart I got a call at my office."

"I think that athletes have the right to be able to speak freely about any issue that they want.  You know, often times that may mean I don't agree with it, but I believe much more strongly in the rights of individual athletes and the rights of athletes to be able to advocate for what they believe in, be it faith, politics, whatever. And, you know, obviously that is a right that has been trampled harder in the last few weeks than I think at any other point."

Cheek said of the Olympics and team Darfur "I remain a huge believer in the power of the Olympic Games to bring people together and to be a force for conflict resolution around the world. The athletes that have joined Team Darfur did so out of a sense that the more than 2 million men, women, and children, who have been driven from their homes in Darfur deserve protection."

www.teamdarfur.org