Let's see: what will come next in the unfolding disaster for Olympians planning to compete in endurance events in the Beijing smog?
Last March, world champion marathoner Haile Gebrselassie pulled out of the Olympic Marathon competition. This was a serious blow to the Beijing Olympics, but very lately, their seems to be an awakening of journalists all over the world concerning air pollution, different from the earlier challenges concerning repression and genocide that have been posed by Tibet activists and Tibet supporters in so many so-called "civilized" nations like France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner expressing grave reservations about even going to the Olympics. Most notable of these journalists is Ireland's Clifford Coonan writing for The Independent, who asks the sad and very obvious question concerning the Olympics being held in Beijing: WHY ARE WE ASKING THIS NOW instead of years ago when Beijing was "selected"?
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge vowed to postpone endurance events (marathon, road walks, road cycling, triathlon) if poor air quality presents a risk to athletes, but this won't make it, Jacques, and deep down you and everyone else in the world knows it: you must move AT LEAST the whole set of the above events to different cleaner venues, and maybe a few other events, out of Beijing altogether. At this point, the IOC merely advises that athletes competing for an hour continually "may be at risk." What a gift for understatement!
[Nothing much was put to rest by George Bush sanguinely remarking that if he were not to show up at the Opening Ceremonies, it would be an "affront" to the Chinese people. Curious, isn't that: he has never once appeared to worry about any affronts to the people of any nation, not even the one whose Presidency he is about to leave.]
Gebrselassie said he could not compete in the Olympic marathon because Beijing's air pollution would damage his health, although he will run the 10,000 meter race within the Olympic Stadium, hopefully to make it less damaging to his lungs. "The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42k in my current condition [asthma]," he told Reuters, adding that pollution "would be a hazard to athletes, seriously."
Obviously, the International Olympic Committee should move the Olympic marathon to a cleaner venue. So what if it enrages a few Chinese officials? Moving them out of Beijing is the only way to protect the health of the marathoners, the triathletes, and the long distance cyclists!
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Growing up on a farm in Ethiopia, Haile Gebrselassie ran ten K's to school each day and another ten kilometres going home. As an adult, he ran with his left arm bent, the effect of years spent running with books under his arm. By the time of the 1996 Olympics, Gebrselassie was the world record holder at 10,000m and the twice defending world champion. Kenyan Cross-country champion Paul Tergat became a serious challenge. Tergat and Gebrselassie pulled ahead of the field after 8000m. Gebreselassie then surged ahead to win by six metres.
The two marathoners renewed their rivalry at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, when they left everyone behind; again, Tergat led as they entered the final lap, and the finish was even closer, until the very last step, the most exciting finish in Olympic history.
At the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, Gebrselassie finished 5th in the 10,000m. Now, in 2008, I conclude that Haile doesn't want to hurt his chances in the marathon in 2012 in London because of the foul air in Beijing. His marathon record is 2hr 4 min 26 sec.
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Australian Rob de Castella ran 42km in the hot L.A. 1984 smog. During the race in that yellow smog Los Angelinos know so well, his eye had swollen shut. This smog also had devastating effects on the women's race. In video beamed around the world, Swiss marathoner Gabriele Andersen-Scheiss staggered across the finish line, where she collapsed.
De Castella thinks these kinds of scenes will occur again in August. "The conditions will be very, very cruel, and in an event like the marathon it is so tough. I think we will see a huge attrition rate in Beijing, and it's going to take its toll on athletes." He remembers L.A. as "a shocker and not only because I only finished fifth. There was a huge amount of concern about the pollution levels leading up to it and a lot of athletes were talking about boycotting the marathon, but at the end of the day athletes will walk over broken glass to get to the start line."
De Castella entered that race as the world's champion marathoner, but Los Angeles' smog killed his chances for even a Bronze; the race was run in the afternoon, so marathoners could come to the finish line just before the closing ceremony. "I suffered considerably," de Castella said. "By the finish, my right eye had swollen up so I was hardly able to see out of it. I think that was a direct result of the pollution; the swelling went down after a couple of days, but given what happened to my eye you have to wonder what was going on with my other functions. One never knows for certain how much of an effect those pollutants are going to have, but some individuals are more susceptible than others. If all things were equal the best athlete would still win, but any athlete with any respiratory sensitivity will be much more severely affected."
Regarding Haile Gebrselassie opting out of the road race:"It's sad for the fans and it's even sadder for him. If he won an Olympic marathon gold medal to go with his other medals he would go down as the greatest distance runner the world has seen, but the Olympic Games hosts are never chosen to provide the best conditions for the marathon."
In Beijing, the marathon will start at 7:30 in the morning. Now that is some really great planning, folks.....
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Retired Australian physician Dr. Ken Fitch, chair of International Olympic Committee's air quality committee for Beijing, regarding Los Angeles:
"It was a major problem until the Games started, then everyone went on holidays and the traffic was minimal and a lot of industry shut down and the air quality improved markedly. But the two weeks before that was diabolical. I went to hockey training one day, and my eyes, nose and throat were hurting and the players were all coughing and spluttering. Yet during the Games, the only episode I remember is that the captain of the US hockey team had some breathing problems." Dr. Fitch says conditions will vary during the Games, and he thinks the smog will be better than expected, just as it was in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Athens.
[We must point out that statistically, however, those cities' conditions are child's play compared to Beijing! The sport of precisely quantifying those statistics and then arguing over them we will leave to the statisticians and atmosheric scientists. Actually, we got in touch with a Taiwanese atmospheric scientist Kwo-Ying Wang who wrote:
"I agree with you, that an alternative venue for the long distance races, marathon, long distance cycling, etc, to a healthier venue is a good idea if the air quality in the original venue is assessed to be too risky for the health of athletes."
Another 1984 Olympic physician, Dr. Brian Sando, recalls several Aussie women having respiratory problems at a test event in LA the year before, but not at an event during the actual games. "In the morning sometimes you would feel like you were getting a cold, scratchy in the throat. It would clear by lunchtime, but that wouldn't have affected performance," he said. (Piece of cake, eh, Brian?)
The Aussies are most concerned about asthmatic athletes, screening many for the condition, and reviewing their medication requirements. Some have been identified, including Olympic 1500m freestyle champion Grant Hackett and triple world triathlon champion Emma Snowsill. "If they do everything they say they will, and they are lucky with the weather, then they could have pretty good air.They have many levers they can apply to improve the air quality."
Australian cyclist Stuart O'Grady has strongly objected to the "insane" risks faced by cyclists. The governing body for athletics in Australia said that it did not want its athletes marching in the opening ceremony because of the pollution.
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"You go out for a jog or a run, and you come back and you blow your nose, and you don't think about it, and then there's all this black pollution that you've blown out of your body." -- Matt Reed, Triathlete
"Beijing's air quality is significantly worse in terms of visibility and
pollution concentration than anything we would experience in Los Angeles on its worst day at any time in the year." -- Randy Wilber, US Olympic Committee Physiologist
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The first Marathon in Greece was run by a runner reporting on urgent military news, immediately after which he collapsed and died, and Olympic historians recall the 1904 St. Louis Marathon when there was so much dust and construction that less than half of the 34 runners finished, and once American runner collapsed and died after that race.
25% of United Kingdom athletes have exercise-induced asthma, including Paula Radcliffe, the marathoner who gave up because of pollution and heat in Athens in 2004. "I'm not frightened of racing in Beijing," she said. "The heat, the humidity and the pollution is something that you simply have to adapt to, everyone. If you are in good shape and you acclimatise properly, then you'll run well."
We find this to be Paula's wishful thinking and "athlete's daydreaming" although because of her personal experience, no doubt, she is displaying more self protective sense than, say, Australian marathoner Lee Troop saying that he refused to let air pollution concerns affect his training or willingness to compete, in line with Kevan Gosper, IOC vice president and Senior Australian Committee member, who said this: "If the wind comes in from the west, there's a real challenge with air quality. If the wind comes in from the east during the Games, then it will be as clear as it is here in Melbourne. Under normal conditions, day-to-day conditions, there's no risk to the health of the athlete in any event that requires effort up to an hour." (Got that, team? Winds from the west are ok, but if from the East, look out....)
Cyclist Leigh Hobson of the Canadian Road Racing Team: "I think my main concern is to expose myself and my teammates to as little pollution as possible. So the national team is going to be flying in very, very close to the day of our actual race so we don't have to train in pollution."
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In all fairness to the few progressives in China's government, this nation's "progress" has included substantial breakthroughs like planting millions of trees to improve air quality, switching from coal to gas energy, closing 10 per cent of its power stations. Authorities completed "The Pollution Sources Census" around Beijing, including 90,000 sources: 24,000 as industrial, 45,000 residential, 21,000 agricultural and 128 treatment facilities, according to Beijing's bureau of environmental protection.
Officials said that pollutants were reduced and air quality in the city had improved for a ninth consecutive year. Physicians, however, maintain that inhalable particles and ozone are still there. China has the top 16 most polluted cities in the world; 750,000 people a year die from breathing-related illnesses, and even 50,000 newborns die from air pollution.
One American blogger, Wendy Gold Rose wrote this on her blog today, and you can't help but love her blunt candor:
"Why would the IOC choose to host an event for the world's healthiest people knowing there's a strong likelihood the 10,000+ participating athletes will keel over and die after a few weeks of physical exertion? Well, maybe not die ... but they're definitely going to get sick from all the dust, smog and stench. I mean, come on! They are actually telling athletes NOT to come until the very last minute. They've even predicted that many of them will do worse than normal because of the smog martini they'll be forced to consume."
Human Rights without Frontiers International urged the IOC to press China on the issue as well as on its human rights record. "China's toxic air reflects its equally foul human rights record," said Reggie Littlejohn, a US lawyer advising the Brussels-based group. "It appears doubtful that Beijing will take the robust and decisive measures required to ensure safe air for the Olympics."
Not surprising that news of these matters is always very slow to reach very far into the Chinese Environmental Potemkin Village to become known to the Chinese people, with BBC transmission mysteriously "interrupted" when these stories came on the air.
Chinese government officials recently reported levels of pollutants like sulphur dioxide dropped a lot last year and rank and file Beijing citizens and military have been conscripted into clearing the stinking algae bloom in the yachting and sailing areas near Qingdao.
The Beijing Organizing Committee concedes that China has failed to meet pollution-busting targets from 2006, but says critics like me are just interested in creating "noise pollution" and that everything will be peachy for athletes and the 3+ million Olympic visitors.
International Olympic Committee has with no enthusiasm quasi-supported Beijing's efforts to combat pollution and in rather blase notations, said that these Olympics will not be likely to bring new record in endurance events. IOC's chief inspector, Hein Verbruggen, said Beijing "looked ready," and that IOC needs "to see how temporary measures in the city will make an impact on air quality".
China twisted arms and laudably scrambled to do all it could to get the Olympics describing them as the "Green Games" to show off combating pollution and encouraging sustainable energy use, although Beijing remains choked with smog three times the maximum allowed for by the World Health Organization. Chinese love to use that charming nonchalant excuse that they are a "developing nation," the location of factories making most of the world's industrial products, and too bad about pollution being a necessary by-product, because of that old Communist adage: The Ends Justify the Means.
United Nations Environmental Programme is worried above all about particulate matter. One BBC reporter managed to get a detector past Customs Officials to test for particulate matter, finding that Beijing's air six out of seven days to meet WHO's air quality guidelines.
Her big "Enviromental Ace in the Hole," Beijing has an odd-even licence plate system starting on 20 July, which theoretically will result in half of the 3.3 million cars not being on the highway for entire time frame for the the Games.
Five coal-fired power plants are trying to cut emitted pollution; Beijing has forced the factories in nearby surrounding provinces stop work or cut production to clean the city's air; trees by the millions have been planted and dust clouds from building sites kept under control.
Exercise physiologists have long ago proven that endurance athletes breathe inhales 10 times as much air as office workers. Canada, Germany, France, Israel and the United States have training camps in Japan instead of Beijing before the Olympics.
Australian cyclist Stuart O'Grady has spoken out about "insane" health risks faced by cyclists. he and his fellow-cyclists face. The governing body for athletics in Australia said that it did not want its athletes marching in the opening ceremony because of the pollution.
The Chinese are trying, at least, but saying that is merely an attempt at polite concession. As that most astute Olympic journalist from Ireland Mr. Coonan points out: the Communist Party has single-party rule; it could grind the entire nation to a screeching halt in order to bring down pollutioln levels if it needs to, and it most certainly needs to do.
So what if China is spending $20 billion to greenify Beijing? That is parking meter change compared to the trade balance they have presently with the USA; they get to keep the improvements, and they aren't as dumb as the USA to pour $300 billion a year down the drain of Afghanistan and Iraq and have nothing to show for it but a bunch of suicide bombers, for all of the USA's efforts....
The Olympic athletes themselves are the ones who will pay that permanent deep-down mitochondrial price, despite all of those thousands of nice Beijing hard workers putting so much nice colorful paint on 31 Olympic venues.
The Olympics' criticism noise (like mine) is not going to go away. It will increase more in this last 30 days. Ultimately, I believe, Beijing will indeed fail because of air pollution. Mark my word: Beijing will be remembered as the Lethal Air Olympics in the minds of the masses and anyone who watches them on television in August 2008.
However, in the hearts and minds of the families of the athletes who will most certainly die, it will be the locus for unspeakable tragedies, all of which could be avoided if Rogge and the Organizing Committee were take their responsibilities seriously and move the most endurance-oriented events entirely out of Beijing.
Stephen Fox occasionally goes on a long mountain run, like the one between Telluride and Ouray, called the Imogene Pass Marathon over the highest mountain pass in the United States, over 13000 feet, where there is one point where you have to jump across a 10 feet wide rouring mountain creek rushing by about 40 miles an hour, and if you fail, you would be soon falling over a 300 foot cliff in a beautiful waterfall. Still, he would rather have such conditions than the certain doom and the doubtlessly shorter life after running a marathon in Beijing's carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, and ozone. At 60, he now prefers the Mountain Bike in the mountains above Santa Fe.
