Thanks To Smog Concerns, Aussie Athletes Will Not March In Opening Ceremonies -

[hatrack]

BEIJING Olympic authorities are shocked and dismayed at Athletics Australia's decision to ban track and field competitors from marching at the opening ceremony, partly because of fears that the city's pollution will harm their health and performance.

It is the first pollution-related boycott, and the decision has upset some of the Australian athletes who will miss the ceremony on August 8, instead remaining in training camps in Japan and Hong Kong until ready to compete. "Wow, you're kidding," said the spokesman for the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, Jeff Ruffolo, on hearing the news yesterday from the Herald. "That's the first time we've heard anything about athletes themselves pulling out of the opening ceremony."

Beijing is one of the world's most polluted cities, but it is introducing drastic anti-pollution measures, and it believes it is being unfairly singled out compared with previous host cities. For example, in Los Angeles in 1984, when conditions were considerably worse," Mr Ruffolo said. "The smog was impenetrable, but the Games turned out sparklingly - because people left the city."

Athletics Australia's national performance manager, Max Binnington, said yesterday that pollution was a problem, and while he understood some athletes were upset, he had to ensure they performed at their peak.

"We have had athletes come back from a recent test event and one athlete has got 10 days off training because of a respiratory problem," he told ABC radio. "We don't want our athletes to be undertaking that sort of risk."

EDIT

http://www.smh.com.au/news/beijing2008/fury-at-beijing-march-boycott-over-smog/2008/06/16/1213468333272.html

[phantom power]

1. They should cite us here at E/E, for totally predicting this.

[Javaman]

2. Hell, a good protest would be the athletes marching wearing gas masks. nt