Good Guy Is Forgotten in Bad Week for Sports
New York Times, July 31, 2007
By HARVEY ARATON
In a little-noticed variation on a widely examined theme, a well-known
sports figure stalked the authorities last week as opposed to the
other way around. This time, a government played defense while the
voice of the people was heard through the mouth of the athlete.
More than 42,000 signatures were delivered to the Chinese Embassy in
Washington on behalf of an organization called the Save Darfur
Coalition. He went to the front door. Put his finger to the bell.
"Yes?" a voice from the other side said.
"My name is Joey Cheek," he said. "I am on the U.S. Olympic team. And
I am here to deliver petitions that we have collected over the last
week imploring China to continue to act strongly to protect the
civilians in Darfur."
That was last Thursday, when Michael Vick was in a Virginia courtroom,
beginning his most vital scramble, trying to elude stomach-churning
charges brought by federal prosecutors of sponsoring a dogfighting
operation that a co-defendant said yesterday was mostly financed by Vick.
Cheek, the American speed skater who won the gold medal in the 500
meters at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, was holding his
ground that day with a message - stop the slaughter in Sudan - to the
host country of next summer's Olympics in Beijing.
"Only you can come in," the embassy gatekeeper told Cheek, instructing
the coalition members with him, along with a Darfuri refugee named
Daoud Hari, to retreat.
Clutching thick binders with signatures collected around the United
States, Cheek waited as 5 minutes became 10, 10 became 20, 20 became
30. Just leave them, one of his colleagues suggested.
Not yet, Cheek said, and after more than a half-hour, the front door
opened. Into the lobby, to a brief audience with embassy officials, he
went to make his drop and propose leading a group of American and
Chinese athletes on a trip to Darfur, the violence-racked region of
Sudan, a country with which China wields considerable economic clout.
"They didn't dismiss it," Cheek said in a telephone interview. "They
seemed interested."
Granted, the timing of his embassy mission wasn't good, if attention
was the desired goal - not in a week when professional sport on so
many levels was reeking of malfeasance, from one side of the Atlantic
to the other. But shame on us if we can't take a few moments to
applaud Cheek's patience, conviction and cause.
Today, in this space, the now hounded quarterback Vick, the home run
antihero Barry Bonds, the suspected rogue N.B.A. ref, the chemically
aided cyclists and even poor, misunderstood Michael Strahan must wait
while Cheek explains why mixing politics and sport - specifically the
international version - does not violate any sacred, time-honored code.
"The Chinese say, 'Don't politicize the Olympics,' but that's
ridiculous," Cheek said. "The only reason they wanted it was
political, to prove they are a great power on the world stage."
For the record, he does not support calls to boycott Beijing, only
using the Games as leverage to move the Chinese government on Darfur.
If his two Olympic experiences have taught him anything, it is that
the Games - rampant commercialism and scandals notwithstanding - are
as good a stage as any "to fight for an ideal that you believe in."
More than his medals, Cheek is no doubt remembered for donating his
2006 Olympic prize money to a sport and humanitarian organization
championed by Johann Olav Koss, the Norwegian speed-skating legend.
For the standard post-Games period, Cheek was the face on the Wheaties
box, America's feel-good Olympian. He became a regular on the
corporate speaking circuit, admittedly cashing in to fund a Princeton
education he deferred for one year.
Retired from skating, Cheek resumed giving back, formed his own
charitable campaign - called it "Where Will We Be?" - to galvanize
Olympians and raise money to fund worthy causes.
He began by stepping onto the Darfur soapbox, but the more he learned
about displacement and genocide, the more he couldn't get off it. He
spoke at a Washington rally with Barack Obama and Hollywood activists,
targeting, in part, Bush Administration policy. He testified before
Congress. He traveled to China, Egypt and the troubled area in Chad
near its border with Sudan.
He would like to work with Ira Newble, the journeyman basketball
player who last spring collected signatures from his Cleveland
Cavaliers teammates on a letter to China protesting Darfur - absent,
most notably, was the young superstar, LeBron James.
"Most Olympians are nowhere near that level of fame," Cheek said. "But
if it's a choice between standing up for something I believe in or not
because I'm worried about celebrity or money, it's a no-brainer."
If only that were the rule, not the exception, a breath of fresh air
in the dog days of an uncommonly depressing sports summer.
About Joey Cheek
After winning gold and silver medals at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games
in Torino, Italy, Cheek donated his $40,000 in prize money to Right To
Play, an athlete-driven international humanitarian organization, with
the money earmarked for displaced Darfurians. He then founded Where
Will We Be?-an organization that unites athletes from around the world
behind the shared goal of raising awareness about and ending the
atrocitiesin Darfur. In the build-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics-an
event meant to engender the spirit of international cooperation,
equality, and human dignity-this project asks, Where will Darfur be by
2008?
For more information about Joey Cheek contact:
Q Sports Marketing
Patrick Quinn
p: 630-903-0000
e:
qsports@yahoo.com
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