China vows to curb smog for Olympics as athletes drop out

[Woodmonkey]

I wonder if they have any standards for choosing where to hold the Olympics? Beijing is known to be one of the most polluted cities in the world and it is known that the meat is laden with steroids forcing many countries to bring their own meat to avoid steroids showing on blood tests.


China vows to curb smog for Olympics as athletes drop out


BEIJING — China confidently predicted Tuesday that Beijing's poor air quality would improve by the Summer Olympic Games, shrugging off the concerns of an Ethiopian marathon world-record holder, who said he wouldn't compete in his event at the games because of pollution.

"We will ensure that during the Beijing Olympic Games, the air quality in Beijing will be fine," said Zhang Lijun, the deputy chief of the State Environmental Protection Administration .

The skies over Beijing have improved in recent years, but haze regularly blankets the capital, and pollution occasionally rises to unhealthy— even dangerous— levels.

The Aug. 8-24 Summer Games occur during a season when winds from Mongolia rarely sweep away the haze, sometimes allowing pollution to build.

Zhang said the city had reached agreements with the neighboring provinces of Hebei , Shanxi , Inner Mongolia and Shandong , as well as the bustling port city of Tianjin , to limit output by cement, chemical and steel factories and coal-fired power plants during the period around the games in an effort to limit regional air pollution.

He said the government had spent about $16.9 billion on "more than 200 air pollution-control measures" in the past decade, and that contaminants such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and microscopic inhalable particulates had decreased.

As the games approach, though, news reports say that some national teams plan to train elsewhere, arrive at the last minute and even provide face masks to their athletes to avoid feeling fatigued by the smog.

The reports have worried officials of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games , who say that some 40 polluting factories in the Beijing area will be closed by the games' opening ceremony.

"The air quality (in Beijing ) will be about the same as in most international cities," said Sun Weide , a spokesman for the organizing committee.

"We are making every effort to improve the air quality. As you know, China is a developing country. We are doing our best," he added.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said last August that he might deal with temporary periods of poor air quality during the games by rescheduling endurance events for a day or two.

Haile Gebrselassie , the world-record holder in the marathon and one of the biggest names in long-distance events, said Monday that he probably would skip the marathon at the Beijing games. He'd be a gold-medal favorite if he did take part.

"The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42 kilometers in my current condition," Gebrselassie told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Other top athletes also have said they might not take part in the games because of the air quality. Among them is Justine Henin , a Belgian who's the world's top-ranked women's tennis player and the 2004 Olympic gold medalist.

The Source