Argentine Olympic Committee respond to Malvinas TV ad

The Argentine Olympic Committee has responded for the first time to an advertisement on state-run TV that links a dispute with Britain about the Malvinas Islands to the London Games.

Olympic committee president Gerardo Werthein said in a statement today that using the games as a platform for "political gestures" is not acceptable but defends the right to freedom of speech for his athletes.

"The Argentine National Olympic Committee is fully committed to the Olympic Charter and the best practices of the Olympic movement", said Werthein,

The IOC denounced the ad last week, saying the Olympics should "not be a forum" for political issues.

The state-supported advertisement, that was branded by Britain as "tasteless and insulting", shows Argentine field-hockey captain Fernando Zylberberg training in the Malvinas - the contested archipelago in the South Atlantic which the two countries fought over in 1982.

In her first public statement on the issue, Argentina President Cristina Fernández defended the ad on Monday and said "creativity cannot be censored."

The ad first ran last week and is still being shown on state-run TV.