Politicians and sponsors distanced themselves last night from a call to boycott the Beijing Olympics after Steven Spielberg withdrew as artistic adviser to the Games over China’s stance in Darfur.

Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister, said that the move would be counter-productive. Britain will attend the two-week Games in August despite calls by Sudanese rebel groups for countries to stay away in protest at Beijing’s military and financial support of the Khartoum regime.

“The world has known for the last seven years that Beijing would host the Olympics. Most progressive governments accept that there are wholly unacceptable aspects of Chinese policy but that did not stop the International Olympic Committee [IOC] awarding them the Games,” Ms Jowell told The Times. “A call for a boycott doesn’t serve any purpose and it would be a great pity. This doesn’t mean, however, we should be distracted from the urgency of Darfur.”

Leading sponsors also said that they would not get involved even as pressure groups, co-ordinated by the actress-turned-activist Mia Farrow, prepared to stage protests outside their global headquarters.

Adidas, which spent $200 million (£102.4 million) on sponsorship rights, said: “We do not believe we have the political leverage that the campaigners attribute to us.” Olympic insiders suggested that Darfur was not an issue to derail the Games, which were awarded to Beijing on the ground that the world should embrace China, not isolate it.

Sir Craig Reedie, Britain’s IOC member, said: “Darfur is a civil war . . . and people will have strong views but the IOC is a sports organisation and its contract is with the host city. It does not become involved in politics of the host nation. Politics will not affect the organisation of the Games.”

The IOC was unmoved. “Mr Spielberg’s decision was personal,” a spokeswoman said. “It has always been the case that organisations or personalities use the Olympics to raise awareness of their cause. If the Games puts the spotlight on things beyond the sporting arena, then let it be, but we are not worried that this will escalate.”

Activists, however, claimed that a boycott would “stop genocide”. Ahmed Hussein Adam, spokesman for the insurgent Justice and Equality Movement, said: “This will send a message to other countries, other individuals and athletes, who haven’t taken a strong stance on Darfur up to now. We are calling on all countries to boycott the Olympics.”

Eight Nobel laureates are among the signatories of a letter to President Hu of China, calling for urgent action on Darfur. The letter — which was also signed by Olympic athletes, government officials and business leaders — says that China, as host of the Games, has a “special role to play in the Olympic ideals of peace and international co-operation”.

China’s leaders are likely to face much more criticism on issues including independence for Tibet and human rights abuses. With Beijing keeping quiet, the only word came in a statement from the Chinese Embassy in Washington: “As the Darfur issue is neither an internal issue of China, nor is it caused by China, it is completely unreasonable, irresponsible and unfair for certain organisations and individuals to link the two as one.”

So far no Olympic athlete has talked of boycotting the Games, although a number have signed up to Team Darfur, a pressure group founded to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis. Richard Vaughan, the British badminton player, said: “For my own selfish sporting reasons it would be too much — throwing away 20 years of training. A lot of athletes will have private sympathies but they won’t want to get involved.”

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