International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge said he expected some form of protest by athletes given the contentious nature of China’s human rights record and policies. The IOC was “not worried”, Dr Rogge said, because he felt confident “athletes will have common sense”.

The International Olympics Committee was maintaining yesterday that no secret deal had been done to allow China to maintain its censorship of the internet and to continue to spy on emails. But its shift in forcing China into last-minute concessions told a different story.

The double whammy of increased internet censorship coupled with the news that the Public Security Bureau had installed spying software in international hotels flies in the face of promises for complete media freedom made by the Chinese authorities when they won the right to host the Olympic Games in 2001.