http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news?slug=reu-athleticsgebrselassie&prov=reuters&type=lgns

BEIJING, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Marathon world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie regrets pulling out of the 42-km race at the Olympics over fears that Beijing¡¯s air pollution would damage his health.

¡°I¡¯m surprised. What do you expect from me? I was here in February, I didn¡¯t see no blue sky,¡± the Ethiopian runner told Reuters on Monday in China¡¯s capital, where the sun was shining in a slightly hazy sky.

¡°Since I came here everything is perfect. They should tell us,¡± he added with a laugh.

Asked if he was now sorry not to be running in next Sunday¡¯s marathon, he chuckled again and said: ¡°Don¡¯t push me. Yes.¡±

Gebrselassie, a 35-year-old who suffers from asthma, announced in March that he would not participate in the marathon and called on China to deal with Beijing¡¯s pollution problem, saying it would be a hazard to athletes.

International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge said last year that endurance events such as the marathon or long-distance cycling races could be rescheduled if efforts to clear Beijing¡¯s polluted skies were unsuccessful.

As it turned out, the opening days of the Games were marred by smoggy skies but the weather has cleared for the second week.

¡°It¡¯s really good for everybody, good for all ¡­ to keep such clean air, that¡¯s fantastic,¡± Gebrselassie said.

Gebrselassie ran in the men¡¯s 10,000m in Beijing on Sunday, an event in which he has twice won an Olympic gold medal. He finished in sixth place, behind fellow Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele and Sileshi Sihine, who took gold and silver respectively.

¡°Getting sixth in 10,000, it was not bad,¡± he said.

¡°The only problem I had yesterday ¡­ was just the last 250 metres, the last 300 metres. I have no more sprint. My training is mostly for a marathon.¡±

He said he may return to the 10,000 metres and is also keen to run in the marathon at London¡¯s 2012 Olympics. (Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Ed Osmond)

i wouldn't trust any british newspaper, they're utter shyte...

the truth is that these do raise some concerns:



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Quoting a Turkish forumer:
"It's a well known fact that most of the boys or girls living in south-eastern Turkey are losing their virginities to horses or dogs of their villages, so I don't think this will suprise any Turk in this forum; we are used to these kinda news..."

I told many people that's frog in Beijing. This is very common in many places in China even before the reform. Beijing is close to the sea and very humid until august in summer. The best season in Beijing is Sept and Oct and Beijing want to hold the games in Sept, but it conflicts with the sports in US and NBC did not like it.

During the ceremony, China lanuched more than 1000 rockets to stop rains from reaching Beijing city area.

Do you forget that some westetrn media, especially BBC this time, said the smog was heavey even 1 or 2 days before the games? But the poor guy said the air is perfect since he came to Beijing.

I have sad it many time...the haze is not fog, is not pollution... That is building dust... Basically every time after rain the weather gets really clear... The study conducted by swedes indicates that the air is better today in beijing than back in the 80s due to huge amount of coal heating inside of City back then...

However, the pics above is Fog... The pictures from Japanese training camps for Swedes this year look the same as the pics above... Fog is not same as pollution... but during "clear" days you cant see far in beijing anyways... that is due to pulverized concrete from the 1000s of building sites around of the city....




__________________________________________
No Matter Who Wins, our troops are always in Good Hands!

If it's smog like this, how Chinese have such a high life expectancies. Some people are really brainless.

I forget to give the number. The life expectancy for Beijing resident reached 80 before 2007.

http://www.china.org.cn/health/2007-03/10/content_1202338.htm

Beijing has dust from constructions and heating in winter because of burning coal. China constructed a gas pipeline and Beijing changed to gas for heating several years ago.

The biggest pollution source in Beijing is Capital Steel. China allocated most of its capacity to Tianjin already. Olympics is only one of the reasons. 1. Beijing is short of water, 2. The depletion of iron ore. Capital Steel uses more and more ore from other countries, 3. Pollution.

"If it's smog like this, how Chinese have such a high life expectancies. Some people are really brainless."

Because not everyone lives in the cities?

Anyway, China is still behind the West:-

Anyway, China is still behind the West:-

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Depends where it is. LA's air is very poor.

When I hear cyclists (outdoor) saying how tired they are after barely 100 km of training (that's warming up for them normally), this raises some question. I know, the cyclists didn't perform in Beijing.


Denying the pollution in Beijing or China is ridiculous even for the most patriotic chinese.


Mobile airpower

"The enemy dies relaxed," observed a Lockheed Martin manager.

Beijing's early august is hot and humid. Every one will feel exausted after 100KM biking.

3 US cyclists weared masks when they entered Beijing. then they took them off. I don't know why they apologized to China. No Chinese feeled shame about that. We only feeled the ignorance of yankees.

Of course, Air in beijing is not good as many other mega cities of more than 12 million population. But it is much much better than the pics that said those heavey fog is smog.

I think is rather idiotic discussion... because Air quality is not measured by the performance of cyclists or pictures of foggy weather (we are not in the 1800)-this is how pathetic journalists desperate after dirty news measure air quality... hardly scientific?...

Despite the articles about scientists drawn assumptions over olympic air quality.. i havent yet seen any actual data or statistcs from the air quality being measured by passive sampling methods from beijing... which is the most efficient and reliable way of measuring air quality... and the last such measurement conducted by Swedes (2004) indicates that the air in Beijing is better today than back in the 80s (that ofcause does mean the air is good)... unfortunately i dont have the link, as i have the report in hard-copy from a magazine only...

So please, dont use age or cyclist performance as an indicator for whether the air is good or bad... is like me measuring the quality of Swedish water by looking at Coca-cola consumption index (if people drink alot of Coke, than that must mean the water in sweden taste bad)....




__________________________________________
No Matter Who Wins, our troops are always in Good Hands!

so true, Journalistic integrity is being replaced more and more by sensationalism. Naturally the air in big cities are worse than smaller ones not to mention with a population of 12 mill, But I have been looking around and it seems that china does indeed have a problem with pollution in the cities now I am not saying problem out of some hippy global warming crap, but because of health concerns and increasing the risk for cancer especially that of the lung and also COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). However there are a lot of conflicting data as to where the most polluted cities are and most articles are rather vague about how they exactly got the data.


A total of 16 out of the top 20 most polluted cities are in China. #1 on the list is Linfen City in Shanxi Province, China. "The whole city smells and is covered in smoke."

http://www.impactlab.com/2006/06/12/the-worlds-top-20-most-polluted-cities/

http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/244 -- different data, still linfen is among the top

http://www.mibazaar.com/pollutedcities.html -- again Linfen china at number 1

here is data for CO2 from wikipedia total emission and CO2 emission per year per capita

106 Tons of CO2 per year:[42]

United States: 2,790
China: 2,680
Russia: 661
India: 583
Japan: 400
Germany: 356
Australia: 226
South Africa: 222
United Kingdom: 212
South Korea: 185
Per capita CO2 emissions

Tons of CO2 per year per capita:[42]
Australia: 10
United States: 8.2
United Kingdom: 3.2
China: 1.8
India: 0.5

more data for relating to smog and top poluted cities from Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smog

London

Victorian London was notorious for its thick smogs, or "pea-soupers", a fact that is often recreated to add an air of mystery to a period costume drama

In 1956 the Clean Air Act introduced smokeless zones in the capital. Consequently, reduced sulfur dioxide levels made the intense and persistent London smog a thing of the past. It was after this the great clean-up of London began and buildings recovered their original stone façades which, during two centuries, had gradually blackened. Smog caused by traffic pollution, however, does occur in modern London.


Mexico City

Due to its location in a highland "bowl", cold air sinks down onto the urban area of Mexico City, trapping industrial and vehicle pollution underneath, and turning it into the most infamous smog-plagued city of Latin America. Within one generation, the city has changed from being known for some of the cleanest air of the world into one with some of the worst pollution, with pollutants like nitrogen dioxide being double or even triple international standards.[7]

Los Angeles

Being in a low basin surrounded by mountains, Los Angeles is notorious for its smog. The millions of vehicles in the city due to lack of sufficient public transportation and/or to Angelino's preference for private transportation, plus the added effects of the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex contribute to further air pollution in the city. While strict regulations by the Californian government have reduced the number of Stage 1 smog alerts from several hundred annually to just a few annually, Los Angeles' pollution level still exceeds health standards and is a pressing issue for the more than 15 million people who live there.

Tehran

In December 2005, schools and public offices had to close in Tehran, Iran and 1600 people were taken to hospital, in a severe smog blamed largely on unfiltered car exhaust.[8]


When your walking in Tehran during rush hour you can get quite nauseated from the smog and if you happen to be wearing a white shirt you can notice that is has been discolored by the end of the day!

Either way I am glad I am living in Sweden, Stockholm as Stockholm is One of the cleanest cities in the world.


http://blissfultravel.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/most-polluted-cities-in-the-world/







I am really going to miss you guys

http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/
Siv: Flame wars are great, They are turn based

Well, as the air quality goes, it is hardly better in LA than in Beijing (if not worse)...

this reminds me of an article i read in NYtimes today... the blogger was making fun of Chinese speaking bad english in beijing... however, what this blogger failed to realize is that... the reason why the Chinese guy speak so bad english is because he (the author) can't speak Chinese....


__________________________________________
No Matter Who Wins, our troops are always in Good Hands!

a nig... i mean an african just broke the marathon record... fastest run ever in olympic history (ironically, the record was taken from LA -which is also noctorious for bad air). ... so i guess bad air is good for performance no??


__________________________________________
No Matter Who Wins, our troops are always in Good Hands!

"a nig... i mean an african just broke the marathon record"



Training in an enviroment with lower oxygen content helps you develop more efficient lungs and oxygen uptake system. But thats training in higher altitudes not in a smog cloud.



http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/
Siv: Flame wars are great, They are turn based

Maybe we shouldn't trust western media but should we trust Chinese government mouth piece? Certainly not!

I wonder who they sent to reeducation camp for not deleting references of the child gymnasts fast enough? Someone from baidu will have to pay for disgracing the nation lol

You truct or not, What Chinese gov promised were all real. Can you deny it? Atheletes played the games in clean air, they had clean and nice food, they were warmly welcomed, the games were precisely organized, ceremoneies were at least good ones without Steven Spielberg. Could you reach these conclusion if you read only western media before the games?

I surely trust Chinese gov much more than western media on Chinese topics.

Though I myself don't follow the Olympics, still, the Chinese gave the world a great Olympics.

The Chinese went through a lot of expense and trouble to give the world a good event.

So, instead of all the criticism...a little thanks is in order.

THANK YOU China.

Milkman.

sure, why not trust a government that actively censors information from it's people? a government that sends old women to reeducation camps for applying to protest? what is not to trust?

you chinese are so gullible. the hyper nationalism you all have is so easily used against you and you don't even see it. here is to you one day opening your eyes

@psingh01

You know what is so funny ... from European perspective you americans sure look stupid making fun of Chinese... as American really dont hold any moral high ground over China.. sorry dude... in terms of human right American is pretty focked up country... right down there with china.. at the bottom of the pit...

I lived in both of your countries and this is my conclusion: The following apply to both of ur focked up countries: Utra nationalstic .. brain washed by your focked up media, lack of freedom.. lack of human right... you both sponsor terrorism ... and u both are dirty and corrupt... the only civilized people in us are made up of first generation Europeans... the only thing America and china is good for is for making money... because both you nation are dirty cheap.. both your population do anything for Cash...

Americans are the focking biggest hypocrites ... look at your signiture and you are pointing finger calling other "hyper nationalism" ... how pathetically ironic... can i find a better stereotype?!


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No Matter Who Wins, our troops are always in Good Hands!

having a small gif of a flag is "hyper nationalist" as opposed to a huge image mocking some retard with a statement 8 years too late? maybe it's too much to expect from a fool who thinks the USA is a **** hole yet still dragged his sorry ass over here to live and benefit (no doubt from us stupid American's education system).

a fool like you thinks only those in a Utopia have a right to criticize and apparently see no harm in getting "news" from a government mouth piece.