Ethiopian Runner Insults China, Cares for Lungs

By Spencer Hall
The current world record holder in the men’s marathon will almost certainly not run the Olympic marathon due to the abominable air quality in the Chinese capital and site of this year’s Summer Games, beautiful, charismatic, and smoggy Beijing.
[quote="Reuters"]“The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42 km in my current condition,” [Haile Gebrselassie] told Reuters by telephone.[/quote]
[img=http://i.tsn.com/i/photos/20080310/87450.jpg]
Gebrselassie isn’t the only athlete with concerns about the Beijing air quality, or more specifically, the lack thereof. Many countries have held their training camps outside of China due to concerns about the air, which according to a UN report had levels of small particulate matter “eight times higher than the level recommended by the World Health Organization.”
It is also the first of a series of likely embarrassments for the Chinese, who get very, very sensitive to even the slightest critique of their otherwise fine Olympic preparations. We’re sure this will blow over, and perhaps literally so: With the Chinese planning to shut down factories and keep cars off the road during the games, the air pollution should fall to an API somewhere in the high 90s -- a measure considered “good” on the air quality scale.
Meaning that contrary to every joke we want to make, the air in Beijing might not kill athletes in the middle of Olympic events. I was there in 1999 when the factories were shut off for the fiftieth anniversary of the PRC, and the skies were a stunning blue -- no different than a summer day in Atlanta.↵