Speed Skater Nils van der Poel Gives Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 Gold Medal To Chinese Dissident
Swedish speed skater Nils van der Poel has given one of the two gold medals he won in Beijing to Chinese-Swedish dissident Gui Minhai to protest against China's human rights violations, Amnesty International said on Friday. Van der Poel, who has been fiercely critical of the decision to award Beijing the Winter Olympic Games, on Thursday gave his 10,000-meter gold medal to Angela Gui, the daughter of bookseller Gui Minhai, who is serving 10 years in prison in China on charges of illegally providing intelligence abroad. "I am not the voice of all Olympians, but me and my friends dedicated our lives to strive for excellence within sports, and the Chinese government chose to use our dreams as a political weapon to legitimise their regime," Van der Poel said in a statement published by Amnesty International.
