Nils van der Poel, twice Olympic champion in Beijing, donated one of his two gold medals to jailed Chinese bookseller Gui Minhai. He expressed his desire to see the human rights situation in China improve, while supplying some harsh criticism of the Chinese government.
The Swedish speed skater presented his medal to Angela Gui, Gui Minhai’s daughter, on Friday. According to the South China Morning Post, he gave Gui his gold medal from the men’s 10,000m event, where he broke the world record.
Van der Poel told Amnesty International, “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 legitimize their regime.”
He added, “I wish for the human rights issues in China to improve and for Gui Minhai to be set free. It’s a lot to ask but it is the only reasonable thing to ask.”
Angela Gui responded to Van der Poel’s gesture on Twitter, stating, “two years ago, a Chinese court announced the sentencing of my father to 10 years in prison after a secret trial. To help make sure political prisoners like my father aren’t forgotten, Nils Van der Poel is dedicating his medal to Gui Minhai [and] countless other victims of [Chinese government] abuses.”
She added, “he came to see me in Cambridge yesterday, where I accepted his medal on my father’s behalf. I think he’d feel beyond honored if he knew. Thank you Nils for being a great ally and friend.”
Gui Minhai was born in China, but left the country for Sweden following the Tiananmen Square protests and subsequent massacre according to the South China Morning Post. He is currently serving a ten-year prison sentence for illegally providing intelligence overseas according to Reuters.
He had sold books critical of the Chinese government while living in Hong Kong. He was previously arrested in 2015, before being released in 2017, and then being arrested once more in the same year.
His imprisonment has been a cause of tensions between the governments of Sweden and China. Ann Linde, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, stated her government’s position once more on Twitter on Friday.
She stated, “two years ago, China announced the sentencing of Swedish and EU citizen Gui Minhai to 10 years imprisonment. We continue to demand consular access and strongly insist that Gui Minhai is released and able to reunite with his daughter and family.”
China, nor the International Olympic Committee (IOC), have yet to comment on Van der Poel’s gesture and comments.
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