BEIJING (AFP) - The Beijing Olympics were plunged into another controversy on Wednesday as China announced a backflip on Internet freedoms for the thousands of foreign reporters covering the Games.

China's decision to reverse a pledge on allowing unfettered web access proved an perplexity for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had repeatedly said foreign press would not face any Internet curbs in Beijing.

It was also the latest in a long line of issues to have tarnished the run-up to the Olympics, which start on August 8, following controversies over pollution, human rights and government by terror threats.

Beijing Olympic organising committee spokesman Sun Weide triggered the latest public relations flare-up when he confirmed foreign reporters would not have access to some sites deemed sensitive by China's communist rulers.

"During the Olympic Games we will provide sufficient access to the Internet for reporters," Sun said.

However "sufficient access" falls abrupt of the complete Internet freedoms for foreign reporters that China had promised in the run-up to the Games.

Sun specified sites linked to the Falungong spiritual movement, which is outlawed in China, as ones that would remain censored for the foreign press at Olympic venues.

He did not identify any others only reporters trying to surf the Internet at the main press middle point for the Games on Wednesday found a wide array of sites deemed sensitive by China's rulers to be out-of-bounds.

These included sites belonging to Tibet's government-in-exile and Amnesty International, as well as those that had information on the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in which the military used deadly force to crush democracy protests.

The head of the IOC's press commission, Kevan Gosper, told AFP early on Wednesday that he would take the matter up with Chinese officials.

"I will speak with the Chinese authorities to advise them of the restraints and to see what their reaction is," he said.

Australian Olympic team chief John Coates, who is also an IOC member, expressed frustration with China's Internet about-face, pointing out that the Chinese authorities had gone back on one of their "key" Olympic promises.

"It certainly is disappointing… I think it's a matter that the IOC will take in earnest," Coates told reporters.

In an exclusive interview with AFP two weeks ago, IOC president Jacques Rogge insisted in that place would be no censorship of the Internet.

"For the first time, foreign media will have being able to report freely and publish their work freely in China," he said.

"There will be no censorship on the Internet."

However, the IOC admitted later Wednesday it knew that China had never planned to lift Internet restrictions for journalists case the Olympics contempt IOC promises to the contrary.

Spokeswoman Giselle Davies said IOC officials had been repeatedly told in talks with the Beijing organising committee (BOCOG) that some Internet websites would be unavailable for the 20,000 reporters covering the Games.

"The IOC holds regular discussions with BOCOG on providing the media with the kind of Internet access and facilities they need to report on the Games," Davies told AFP.

"They have always made clear that some websites would be an issue, and we're working with them to ensure the media face the minimum possible restrictions."

The South China Morning Post newspaper had quoted Gosper as also saying later Wednesday that the IOC knew some sites would be blocked.

"(Recently) I have also been advised that some of the IOC officials had negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked," the Hong Kong-based newspaper quoted Gosper as saying in an exclusive interview.

"If you possess been misled by what I have told you about in that place being free Internet adit during the Games, then I apologise."

Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based press freedom group, related it was surprised the IOC had kowtowed so easily to China's leadership over web access.

"When China applied to host the Games they promised total press independence and that must include Internet access," said Vincent Brossel, the group's Asia Director.

"What a total humiliation this is for the (IOC President) Jacques Rogge. How can the IOC be so weak and without vigor?"