Baseball coach breaks with Olympic gag order
Monday, 11th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China put a gag order on its coaches and athletes for the pre-Olympic period, making none of them available to talk with foreign media (with the exception of press conferences at international competition).But Jim Lefebvre broke that silence when he spoke with Seattle Times reporter Steve Kelley a few days ago. Five years ago, Lefebvre took a detour from his long Major League Baseball career to lead China's baseball team.
The team isn't expected to have much success at these games, and two of the three ballparks that were built in Beijing will be torn down after the Olympics. But Lefebvre, who will likely return to the United States this fall, has high hopes for baseball's future in China and some interesting stories from his time with the Chinese team.
On why he decided to speak to Kelley, Lefebvre says:
"With the Olympics about to begin, the Chinese officials have come to me and said no coach, or player, or manager can talk to the media," Lefebvre said. "So this, what I'm doing now, is against their policy. I asked them why we can't talk and they told me they didn't want to put a focus on their team and I told them, 'You know, that bothers me.'
"We have players who deserve some attention. We have a guy who played in the CBA [Chinese Baseball Association], quit the game and worked in the restaurant business for eight years. Now he's our best pitcher. That's a story that should be told."
Tags: baseball, Beijing Olympics, Jim Lefebvre