Mr Rudd made the announcement in a speech to Olympic athletes and support staff at the Australian Institute of Sport before their departure for the Games.

The decision brought an immediate rebuke from Greens senator Bob Brown, who said Mr Rudd's ''predictable'' decision raised the question of why he had kept Australia waiting so long.

He said the Government had done nothing since the bloodshed in Tibet in March to lift Beijing's suppression of seven million Tibetans.

''The lead-up to the Olympic Games is the best opportunity for world leaders to apply diplomatic pressure on Beijing to enter into meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama, but Mr Rudd, like John Howard before him, has dumped the Tibetans in favour of good times gatherings with the Beijing communist bosses,'' Senator Brown said.

The Australia Tibet Council joined the criticism, saying it was disappointed Mr Rudd did not defer his decision until after the next round of Tibet-China dialogue, expected to happen within weeks.

The executive officer of the Australia Tibet Council, Paul Bourke, said Mr Rudd's decision to attend the Games before China had taken any substantive steps to resolve the Tibet issue sent the wrong message to the Chinese Government.

Speaking after the farewell to the Olympians, Mr Rudd said he was pretty relaxed about his decision to attend the opening ceremony.

''The Chinese Government have extended the invitation. The Australian Olympics Committee have been supportive of the decision to go. I think it's the right thing to do,'' Mr Rudd said.

He has previously claimed ''scheduling reasons'' for his concerns about whether to attend the Olympics.

China carried out a massive security clampdown in Tibet following unrest in March. Exiled Tibetan leaders have claimed the crackdown resulted in 203 deaths, while China says it killed no one and that the only deaths were because of ''rioters''.

In April, the European Parliament voted for a possible boycott by European Union leaders if China failed to talk to the Dalai Lama.

The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has decided not to attend the opening ceremony, but will attend the closing ceremony to accept the Olympic flag on behalf of Britain, the Olympic host for 2012.

The leaders of Canada, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and France are not expected to attend the opening ceremony in protest against the Chinese crackdown on Tibet.

At the farewell ceremony at the institute, Mr Rudd joined the chief executive of the Australian Sports Commission, Mark Peters, and Minister for Sport Kate Ellis in wishing the athletes well in the Games, now just 50 days away. Ms Ellis said the Federal Government was ''tremendously proud'' of the institute's facilities, programs and support, but most of all it was proud of the athletes as AIS ambassadors.