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@badtmy
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7333955.stm
now the french are having the same issues.
sport can be a political tool, yes, but the long sporting boycott of south africa accomplished nothing to end apartheid - the world just moved on and the old hardline nationalist men (Botha and his cronies) died or moved out of power (combined with sustained trade restrictions and political pressure). nor did the boycott of the moscow olympics affect soviet policy in afghanistan - they pulled out when it got too expensive. i think change in tibet is likely to follow a similar course, china is gradually loosening up anyway and getting more liberalised, and protesting against the olympics being held in beijing is basically useless. raising awareness and increasing political pressure on the chinese government over a sustained period will be far more effective.
unfortunately most western economies are far too dependent on chinese-produced goods (and in some cases, like Australia, on china buying raw materials) to really put pressure on them in a trade boycott sense.
to make this relevant, there are lots of bicycles in china (not sure if they're fixed though).