The openly gay British actor Stephen Fry is calling for an absolute ban on the 2014 Russian Winter Olympics, as outrage spreads over the country's anti-gay propaganda law.
The controversial new legislation, which outlaws the promotion of homosexuality, is threatening to disrupt both this weekend's world athletics championships in Moscow, and next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi, when it will apply to athletes and spectators.
In an open letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, IOC President Jacques Rogge and London Olympics head Sebastian Coe, Fry compared the Sochi Games to the Nazi-run 1936 Berlin summer Olympics, which he said were a "stain on the Five Rings".
Fry says the IOC must take a firm stance on behalf of the shared humanity it is supposed to represent against the barbaric, fascist law that Putin has pushed through the Duma.
The American 800 metres champion Nick Symmonds has become the first competitor at the world champs to criticise the law, writing in his blog that he disagrees with it.
But Symmonds maintains he will say no more out of respect for the host nation.
US President Barack Obama also weighed into the controversy, saying he has "no patience" for Russia on the issue, while other senior sporting figures have also spoken out against the development.
