WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Olympic Gold Medalist Joey Cheek, co-founder of Team Darfur, will not attend the Beijing Olympics because China has revoked his visa, his organization said on Tuesday.
Cheek, a speedskater who competed in the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, had planned to travel to Beijing on Wednesday, to support Olympic athletes who are members of Team Darfur.
The international coalition of athletes campaigns to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Darfur region where, according to international experts, some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes since rebels took up arms against the government five years ago.
China is a major investor in Sudan's oil industry and is its largest weapons supplier. In the runup to the Olympics, Beijing has come under international pressure to help end the conflict in Darfur.
Washington-based Team Darfur said the Chinese Embassy revoked Cheek's visa on Tuesday with no explanation.
Cheek said he was sad he would not be able to go.
"Despite the fact that I've always spoken positively of the Olympic ideal, and never called for a boycott or asked an athlete to break an IOC (International Olympic Committee) rule, my visa was revoked less than 24 hours before my scheduled departure," Cheek said.
"The denial of my visa is a part of a systemic effort by the Chinese government to coerce and threaten athletes who are speaking out on behalf of the innocent people of Darfur."
A representative of the Chinese Embassy in Washington could not be immediately reached for comment.
Cheek announced in 2006 he would donate his Gold Medal bonuses to relief in Darfur and encouraged other athletes and sponsors to do the same. (Reporting by Joanne Allen, editing by Alan Elsner)