'I am not in favour of a boycott of the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games are a sporting event,' she told reporters in Barcelona, the Europa Press news agency reported.

Earlier on Tuesday French President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to rule out an eventual boycott of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on Aug 8 if China refuses to open a dialogue with the Dalai Lama on Tibet.

Mr Sarkozy, who had faced criticism in France for his relative silence on the issue, couched his comments on Tuesday cautiously: He made it clear that skipping the ceremony was one of several possible French responses to the violence in Tibet.

'Our Chinese friends must understand the worldwide concern that there is about the question of Tibet, and I will adapt my response to the evolutions in the situation that will come, I hope, as rapidly as possible,' he told reporters in southwest France.

Asked whether he supported a boycott, Mr Sarkozy said he could 'not close the door to any possibility.'

His aides confirmed that Mr Sarkozy was talking only about the opening ceremony. His ministers have repeatedly said that France does not support a boycott of the entire games.

During a visit to India last week Ms Pelosi made the first high-level call on the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader after anti-Chinese protests led to violent clashes between Tibetans and Chinese police on March 14.

'If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in Tibet, we have lost our moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world,' the Democratic leader said during her visit.

China called Ms Pelosi a 'defender of arsonists, looters and killers' after she visited the Dalai Lama and criticised Chinese 'oppression' in Tibet in a commentary about her trip to Dharamshala published by the Xinhua state news agency.

Dharamshala is the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile which has said at least 99 people died in the violence, as China launched a crackdown on protesters across Tibet and nearby regions.

The Dalai Lama, whom China blames for instigating the violence, fled Tibet in 1959 after an uprising against Chinese rule was violently put down. -- AP, AFP