FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press conference footage available

New York - Yingsel, an endangered Tibetan antelope and one of China's five chosen mascots for the 2008 Olympic Games announced early this morning that she has defected from China's Olympic team in order to actively campaign for the freedom of her homeland. In a statement sent to Students for a Free Tibet, the young antelope known as "Ying Ying" in China, decried the Chinese government's attempts to use her as a propaganda tool to cover up its military occupation of Tibet. Tibetans and their supporters worldwide celebrated Yingsel's brave decision to speak out and vowed to raise awareness about her situation to the world.

"I am a proud Tibetan antelope and I refuse to be used by the Chinese government as a pawn in its efforts to portray Tibetans as happy and prosperous under China's rule" said Yingsel in her correspondence with Students for a Free Tibet. "I call on all Tibetan antelopes, Tibetan people, friends, supporters and governments of the world to help me in my quest to restore rights and freedom in Tibet."

Students for a Free Tibet held a press conference in New York today to publicize Yingsel's appeal to the international community to reject China's attempts to use the Beijing Olympics as a means to legitimize its occupation of Tibet. Her announcement follows closely on the heels of the high profile protest by five Americans, including a Tibetan American, at Mount Everest base camp last month. The activists were opposing China's intention to summit Mount Everest with the Olympic torch and carry it through Tibet in the lead up to the Games.

"We are deeply moved by Yingsel's courageous decision to leave the Chinese Olympic team in order to shine the Olympics spotlight on China's brutal occupation of Tibet," said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. "We understand that she has gone into hiding for her own safety and we will do everything we can to help spread her message far and wide to ensure the Chinese government does not succeed in using these Games to mask the true reality of its authoritarian rule in Tibet."

China's Olympic Organizing Committee announced the five official 2008 Beijing Olympics mascots in November 2005. The Tibetan antelope or "chiru" as it is commonly known is an endangered species; threatened by illegal poaching, human settlement, fencing - which interferes with chiru migration and foraging - and resource extraction, including oil drilling and gold mining.

Yingsel's full statement and press conference footage available at: www.yingsel2008.com

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