Chris Boyles graduated from Messiah College (PA) in 2002. A two-sport athlete at Messiah, Boyles was a seven-time All-American in track & field (decathlon, high jump and hurdles), and a First Team All-American goalkeeper in soccer. Boyles was the starting goalkeeper on the 2000 National Championship team at Messiah and won the 2002 National Championship in the decathlon.

After playing a year of professional soccer, Boyles decided to return to track and field as a post-collegiate decathlete. His post-collegiate track career began in 2004  and he has been ranked as high as #14 in the world.

Shortly after the 2008 Olympic trials, he connected with Dr. Curt Draeger [1], a prominent doctor for decathletes. He planned to go to Beijing to serve as Dr. Draeger's "media" guy (taking photographs, conducting a few interviews and writing some stories on his impact on the decathlon in the US) and to support friend and 3x Olympic decathlete Tom Pappas [2].

On July 24, he was granted a Visa to go to China. On the 28^th, he received a phone call telling him that his Visa is no longer valid. He was not given a reason for this action. The only reason he can think of for China revoking his Visa is his membership with Team Darfur. He was told that he had to resubmit his Visa application. He was denied and instructed to drive to the Chinese Consulate in DC. He had to fly in from Kansas (was at a track & field competition). Once there, he was told that they couldn't even accept the form because he had been previously denied. Again, no reason was given. He contacted the local, state, and federal government, but wasn't able to get any assistance. He planned to leave for Beijing on August 14.