For realz, people-- the pollution in Beijing is no joke, forget what their government says. ("Nearly five times above World Health Organization standards for safety"-- apparently there's smog INSIDE the velodrome, for eff's sake.) And the US Olympic Committee's exercise physiologist, Randy Wilber, has to figure out what to do about it.
- Acclimate the athletes somehow? NO. Unlike training for, say, high altitudes, having prolonged exposure to sulfur dioxide, ozone and particulate matter won't make your body "used to it."
- Wear masks while competing? Nope. Big political faux pas. The Chinese don't want 4 billion people watching images of gold medals being draped over facemasks.
- Get approved for drugs? Maybe. Wilber's running tests for exercise-induced asthma (which pollution this extreme can exacerbate). The inhalers used to treat it contain a drug banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, but if he can prove it's necessary to the I.O.C., some athletes could use them.
- Train in a nearby non-hellhole, then take your chances on the day? Yup. Wilber has scouted training locations in South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, and recommended that athletes "wear specially designed masks over their noses and mouths from the minute they step foot in Beijing until they begin competing."
Meanwhile, other Western countries like Canada are staying tight-lipped about their own strategies to keep their natives black-lung-free.
Beijing-level pollution can cause allergic reactions, asthma attacks, and increase risk of heart attacks. Not to mention massively reducing your ability to bring home the gold:
“Your body says, ‘This air is bad; breathe less of it,’ and that’s a defensive mechanism,” Mr. Thurston said. “For athletes, that means they will go into oxygen debt sooner and will start cramping up. At an event like the Olympics, that could be disastrous.”
I wonder what the Chinese athletes are doing (if anything) to prepare?
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