Olympic Haze

What not break any records the is the stupidest thing iv ever heard. train all this time and mentally getting ready not to compete at your hardest that is like disrespecting the other athletes. This Olympics is going to be pretty lame.

Geb is smart.

Its true the IOC shouldnt have let Beijing hold the olympics if they new the air pollution was so bad.
Lets just hope none of the athletes get really sick.

have them run the marathon and other endurance events in another part of the country where the air quality according to the IOC is decent
or just move it to another country like Japan or something

this is complete bs, why in the hell did the ioc let Beijing hold these olympics.
Why couldnt Oregon, Sweden, or France hold the olympics?

However this sets up a chance for some big upsets!

man... I hope Hall, Ritz, and Sell are able to compete at their best... DAMN CHINESE!!!

ok. i am scared. this could have long lasting repurcussions on a lot of these athletes. especially the marathoners.. crike, i wouldn't be surprised if they don't race another marathon after this. this is absurd. i'm not happy. do you people not care about ryan, dathan, brian??? What is wrong with you people!?!?! HAVE YOU ALL GONE MAD??????? AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The Chinese are shady characters. Mind you, it's a really big country and this disingenuous nature is really that of the government (and some business leaders), rather than of the vast majority of the people. That said, it doesn't help since we in the west mostly deal with Chinese authorities.

Everyone copes with air pollution in different ways. The best athletes are not necessarily those who cope with it the best.

with 5:20 left he spits on himself

the best will still win

I'm heck of worried for the USA Olympians.

Geezus the color of the skies looked disgusting. I've seen pretty bad air pollution in southern CA, but I've never seen anything like that of Beijing.

wow..i feel bad for the athletes,the olympic should be one of the greatest events of their lives, not a health hazard

who else thinks that guy is super awkward?

$$$$$$$$$$

After watching this report it does not surprise me on the manipulation of the data. I hope the USOC brings in their own air monitoring equipment.
I grew up, and competed in Los Angeles County. We had ozone alerts and certain days we were not allowed to train or compete. But I can still remember the pain in my chest from breathing that air when I played as a child.
If I in where going to China to compete, I would not come until I was required,

They say nothing about possibly shutting down the factories for a month before the olympics and during. But it is a little late for that. The real question is are there any long term effects on a athlete's body after competing in those terrible conditions? I just have this horrible image of us send our best athletes and then they comeback and they are never the same. As for the Chinese government I don't think they are to blame... I believe the IOC is to blame. The IOC knew what the pollution was like in Beijing and still agreed to hold it there and didn't make any further requirements about the air quality. So if there is anyone who failed the athletes it is the IOC.

How the did Beijing get the olympics!? This is complete bull!

I live an hour and a half outside LA and I want one of those masks!!
How much more corrupt can a government be? than to let the air quality get out of hand like it is. I feel horible for the Athletes and the Chinese citizens who feel like they are powerless.

hopefully the athletes put on these secret masks in the ceremonies and embarass the chinese. They'd be the first olympics where athletes are wearing breathing masks and that would be a slap in the face to the chinese and hopefully the chinese would get the message, they need to clean up their damn air.

all the marathoners put on a mask that says made in tibet and run. that would be awesome.

Wtfpillowshirt,

That is just the tag line the Olympics are spitting to try and diffuse the situation. If you only have one opportunity to show the world and sponsors what you can do you might have a little different point of view? Dont believe their propaganda.

Let's hope this air doesn't completely annihilate the U.S.'s upcoming distance stars futures.

TBQH, I think that the IOC is right, the games are about the competition, next exactly the quality of the competition in historic context.

Of course it would have been better to put the games in a situation where air quality was higher, whether that was done by moving them, or forcing Beijing into more aggressive air quality control, I can't say. But the issue can't be changed, and I think we should be more focused on any potential solutions to this issue than outrage over the fact that Beijing allowed the conditions to get this bad.

Is this honestly that surprising, coming from a State run gov't? Like the last few lines in this piece said- of course the Chinese officials are going to say the air quality is fine during the iolympics. Honestly, I think they best they can do is cross their fingers.

Hopefully, after exposing the world to their situation, something will happen to start to remedy it.

inexcusible! China should be ashamed that they are recieving so much pressure about their air quality.

They taking after their BIG and capitalistic cousins.....USA!! Heres an idea we should let them drill in Alaska right beside us....that will fix the air quality situation. Remember that air will eventually be a part of the air we are breathing!!!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

How was air quality overlooked when these beurocratic morons selected beijing to host the olympics.

I feel bad for the athletes!

wow! this is NO good. especially for the endurance athletes.

its too bad these games have already got a fishy feeling about them. with the gene doping slip up that just recently came out and with these false air reports/numbers.