The Internet censorship remains in place for the Olympics, despite the International Olympic Committee’s promises to pressure the Chinese government into allowing the press free access to websites during the Games.

“I regret that it now appears the Beijing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) has announced that there will be limitations on website access during the Games time,” said the International Olympic Committee’s press commission representative Kevin Gosper.

This exposes a troubling fact, that the effort of the International Olympic Committee to ensure “free” Games were reduced to a minimum, allowing the Chinese government to impose restrictions over Internet use.

Gosper said the IOC was very surprised to hear that the censorship stays in place, but probably not as surprised as the journalists arriving in Beijing when they found out that they couldn’t access certain websites.

“I also now understand that some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related,” Gosper said. Which makes us wonder some more - thank God for the media complaints, otherwise some members of the IOC would have never found out that other members of the IOC had negotiated behind their backs?

The Olympic Village opened up on Friday last week, but reporters have had restricted access to websites containing “sensitive” issues, such as the Taiwanese independence, the Tibetan conflict and more.

Amnesty International’s website was also on the black list of the Chinese government, and their reaction was prompt: “This blatant media censorship adds one more broken promise that undermines the claim that the Games would help improve human rights in China.”

This entire aggravation started off from some broken promises from the Chinese government, who said it will grant free access to the Internet during the Games for reporters. What we see now is that once you enter China, your rights are narrowed down to the Chinese government’s wishes.

So what happened to the freedom of speech? It seems to disappear once reporters crossed the border and entered Chinese territory. The strange part is that Chinese authorities negate access to certain websites, but still believe reporters should be happy with what they get.

Officials from the Beijing Olympic organizing community said reporters won’t have any troubles covering the Olympic Games subject, and that access has been restricted only to websites that break the Chinese laws.

Everyone had high hopes that the Olympic Games would bring understanding for the first time, but it seems that the desperation that drives Chinese authorities to push for censorship was far greater the IOC’s commitment to make the Olympic Games truly free.

It looks like China is not willing to take steps towards allowing freedom of speech and the right to information. Not only does the government refuse to discuss certain metters, but it prohibits others from doing that too.

This will definitely be another hit in China’s image and its idea of acting as a true host of the Olympic competition. Reporters have no choice but submit to the rules, no matter how harsh they may seem, and focus on the upcoming Games.