Olympics-China bans Olympic athletes from commercial activities

BEIJING, Nov 9 (Reuters) China, eager to ensure national glory at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has banned its athletes from taking part in advertising and public relations work, local media reported today.

''In order to prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, our country's athletes, including celebrity athletes, are banned from participating in all kinds of social activities,'' the Beijing News quoted Sports Minister Liu Peng as saying.

''Athletes who participate in social activities are relatively easily distracted. If this is not regulated, it may interfere with their training and be detrimental to Beijing Olympic preparations,'' Liu said.

The report did not specify what he meant by ''social activities'' or which kinds would be deemed necessary but observers said they included commercial endorsements.

China holds its athletes to strict standards of conduct that have become especially severe in the run-up to the Olympic Games.

Olympic diving gold medallist Tian Liang was kicked off the national team in 2005 for taking part in a rash of television ads and endorsements.

''Since the Athens games, Chinese athletes have taken part in too many commercial activities,'' Wei Jizhong, former general secretary of the Chinese Olympic Committee, told the paper.

''Some athletes simply do not manage the relationship between their identity and their role as product endorsers.'' In May, Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang came under fire for signing a deal with the Baisha corporation, a Chinese tobacco giant that sells 75 billion cigarettes a year.

A book entitled, ''My Heart is Flying: A Liu Xiang Photobook,'' published in February, contained dozens of images of cranes, the birds that adorn Baisha cigarette cases.

Wang also said that ''part'' of any income earned by Chinese athletes should be returned to the ministry ''because the athletes are trained by the country''.

REUTERS PDS PM1411