OLYMPIC ATHLETES RETURN FROM DIPLOMATIC MISSION TO HELP SAVE DARFUR
Save Darfur Coalition Supports Celebrity Delegation with Expert Analysis and Advice During Human Rights Mission to China and Egypt

WASHINGTON, D.C., –American speed skater and Olympic gold medal winner, Joey Cheek, and Kenyan world champion distance runner Tegla Loroupe are arriving in the United States today from a human rights mission with actors George Clooney and Don Cheadle and the Save Darfur Coalition. The Coalition’s Executive Director David Rubenstein and Ambassador (ret.) Lawrence Rossin traveled with and advised the high-profile delegation of celebrities and athletes as they met with senior government officials in China and Egypt where they discussed the genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region. On Friday, the Clooney-led delegation of Darfur activists will visit the United Nations in New York to brief UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on their meetings and to hold a press conference.

WHO:   Joey Cheek, Tegla Loroupe and experts from the Save Darfur Coalition are available to provide media with their personal accounts and analysis of the implications and results from meetings with senior government officials of China and Egypt regarding the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

• Joey Cheek, First Heisman Humanitarian Award winner, American speed skater and Olympic gold medal winner
• Tegla Loroupe, World Champion Kenyan distance runner and 2006 United Nations Ambassador of Sport
• Amb. (ret.) Lawrence Rossin, Senior International Coordinator for the Save Darfur Coalition, 29 year U.S. Foreign Service official
• David Rubenstein, Executive Director of the Save Darfur Coalition, recent witness of the effects of the Darfur genocide on Darfuri refugees in Chad

WHAT:   Broadcast Quality Footage, Still Photographs & Interviews Available Upon Request   

• Previously Unseen B-Roll Footage of Darfuri Refugees in Chad, Preview footage at: http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/multimedia

• Joey Cheek’s Heisman Humanitarian Award Dinner Acceptance Speech, Preview the video at: http://dl.nmmstream.net/media/darfur/cheekheisman.mov

• Still Photographs of celebrity activists, including Joey Cheek, advocating on behalf of ending the violence in the region.

About the Delegation
On Friday, December 15, 2006, actors George Clooney and Don Cheadle and Olympic athletes Joey Cheek and Tegla Loroupe will meet with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Following their meeting, they will hold a press conference at the United Nations about their human rights mission to China and Egypt to discuss the genocide in Darfur. The Clooney-led delegation met with senior government officials of both countries and urged them to use their influence in Sudan to end the killing.

The delegation included:

• George Clooney, who in September 2006, met with U.N. Security Council members together with Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel to urge them to act on Darfur. The American actor and activist also visited Darfur in April;
• Joey Cheek, an American speed skater and Olympic gold medal winner;
• Tegla Loroupe, a World Champion Kenyan distance runner who is also a world record holder and serves as a UN Ambassador of Sport;
• Don Cheadle, an Academy Award nominee for "Hotel Rwanda”;
• David Pressman, a human rights lawyer and former aide to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright;
• David Rubenstein, Executive Director of the Save Darfur Coalition;
• U.S. Ambassador (ret.) Lawrence Rossin, Senior International Coordinator for the Save Darfur Coalition.